Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail is a rail trail in Florida.It is protected as a 16mi long Florida State Park and runs from the City of Gainesville's Boulware Springs Water Works to the town of Hawthorne. It passes through the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and the Lochloosa Wildlife Management Area along a former Seaboard Coast Line Railroad line. The property was purchased by the state of Florida from CSX Transportation with money from the "trails from rails" program in late 1989.Recreational activitiesActivities include hiking, running, cycling, rollerblading, and horseback riding. A grassy equestrian pathway is available except east of the Lochloosa trailhead.HoursThe Boulware Springs trailhead is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. November through April and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. May through October. The Paynes Prairie portion of the trail is open from 8 a.m. until sunset, 365 days a year.
