Alligator Lake Recreation Area in Columbia County, Florida

Photograph: Alligator Lake 04.jpg by Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Restored from the credited Wikimedia Commons file, normalized to the consistent attraction-card frame and converted to WebP by 1stFlorida.com. Portrait originals retain their complete composition over a softly blurred extension of the same photograph.

Columbia County attraction

Alligator Lake Recreation Area

Columbia County · North Florida & First Coast

A thousand acres of lake, marsh and cypress on the edge of Lake City, with miles of levee trails and more than 150 kinds of bird.

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Alligator Lake Recreation Area covers about a thousand acres of wetland at 420 Southeast Alligator Glen, on the edge of Lake City. It is a county park, and the county counts twelve miles of hiking and biking trails across it; Florida Hikes measures up to 8.7 miles of walking. Either way it is a large place to walk. The main route is the James H. Montgomery Trail, a three-mile loop that runs along raised levees with open water and marsh on both sides. The South Trails, the Old Canal Trail and the Possum Trot Trail let people make the walk longer or shorter. A short boardwalk, about a tenth of a mile out and back, pushes into old cypress swamp, and benches are set along the water. More than 150 bird species have been recorded here, along with turtles, frogs and the alligators the lake is named for, which is why the park warns people to keep small children back from the water. There is a canoe launch and paddling through the marsh, fishing, a playground built to be accessible, six covered picnic pavilions taken first come first served, a larger pavilion that can be reserved, a sand volleyball court, a horseshoe pit and accessible restrooms. Entry is free. The park opens Tuesday through Sunday at 8 in the morning and closes at 7 in summer and 5:30 in winter. Dogs are not allowed

GETTING THERE

Get Directions ↗Official Website ↗

MOVING TO COLUMBIA COUNTY?Fourteen services. One business each.

Attorneys, movers, insurance, title companies, roofers and nine more — one listed business per service in Columbia County.

See local help in Columbia County →

Keep comparing

Return to the Things to Do choices in Columbia County.

Back to Columbia County