Take your boots, the trails can get kind of wet. For this cache, follow the Yellow Trail from parking*, and then you can make the choice of right or left around the Blue trail. This is about 1.5 miles round trip hike. You are looking for an ammo can a few feet from the trail. Don't forget to check out the view!
(*Parking is provided as an additional waypoint; although there are no signs at the end of the road, the entrance is located along NW 254th Avenue..open the chained gate and park, closing the gate behind you)
Santa Fe River Preserve protects 1,067 acres on the banks of the Santa Fe River near Worthington Springs. The preserve includes high bluffs along the river and an interesting tangle of floodplain forest where the New River converges with the Santa Fe. In 2022, the Alachua Conservation Trust opened a new segment of Santa Fe River Preserve. Known as Santa Fe River Preserve South, this part of the preserve offers nearly 2 miles of hiking trails connected to a small parking area, benches, and a picnic area. We were asked to add some caches to this area, so here you are!
The preserve has an interesting mix of flora which in turn support a wide diversity of wildlife. There are wild azaleas and rain lilies along the banks; river birch, cypress and tupelo in the bottomland; patches of longleaf pines and sand post oaks with wiregrass groundcover in the uplands, and a rich slope forest that surrounds Santa Fe Creek along the Gracy Trail. Bears frequent the river corridor, and rare and endangered mussels persist along the river bottom.
Notes:
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Preserve is open from sunrise to sunset.
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Dogs are welcome as long as they remain on a leash.
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Trails are unpaved and in some places can be muddy, uneven, or wet.
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Drones are not permitted without permission from ACT.
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Motorized vehicles are prohibited.
Placed with permission by the Alachua Conservation Trust.