Exploring Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park in Florida
Although Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park started off on the wrong foot (Blaze’s wrong foot at least), we still took turns exploring the nearby trails while we took turns watching the pup. Payne’s Prairie was our last state park to explore before we started heading west in Florida’s panhandle!
–> Payne’s Prairie State Park Map <–
Our little mini-adventure started at the southern entrance near the ranger station as referred to in the park map located above. As stated in the video, our greyhound managed to hurt his foot IMMEDIATELY exiting our truck onto the parking lot. So, this is definitely not a complete adventure, but what we managed to see whilst visiting. 🙂
We decided to head up towards the observation tower since well, observation towers usually yield some pretty awesome views. Once the dog decided to sabotage our adventure (just kidding I still love the guy) we took turns heading to the observation tower.
THE TOWER.
The observation tower itself really isn’t super tall, but it certainly did the job showing off the surrounding scenery. Just before you get to the tower there is also a pretty sweet looking visitors center that neither Deanna nor I actually checked out. BUT, it probably has some helpful information that would have provided more insight into this beautiful Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park.
According to what we read before heading to this park there are suppose to be some pretty sweet wild horses and bison…along with your typical man eating alligators. None of those were seen during our adventure, but to be fair…we were really only there for like 30 minutes.
THE VIEW
This is where I would imagine to see wild horses and bison frolicking with one another as the sunsets over the marshy wetlands. Unfortunately I will have to wait another day for that to happen, but these photos were still pretty sweet via my wife Deanna.
Seriously, if our dog wasn’t threatening to bleed all over the backseat of our truck, this is one of those spots to just sit there and ponder if the grass is really greener on the other side. Or better yet, maybe just enjoy the view and stare off mindlessly.
SUMMARY
Truly we can’t give this park a true representation with the time we spent here, but we can speak to what we saw. If the rest of this park is anything like the amazing views from this observation tower, I would love to spend an entire day here exploring and taking in the beauty that it holds.
It is a dog friendly park with quite a variety of trails and a few different entrances we have yet to discover ourselves. However, if you do check this park out and want to let us know how awesome it is, feel free to let us know in the comments below!
OTHER FLORIDA ADVENTURES
6 Fun Things To Do at Walt Disney World’s Epcot
Exploring Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park
Exploring Lake Louisa State Park
Campground Review of Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort
NOTE FROM THE WRITER
You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can also subscribe to our channel’s RSS feed via the subscribe button on the sidebar. If you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave them below and we will try our best to get back to you! Thanks for reading/watching!
Also be sure to check out The Harvest Skillet when you get the chance! A lot of awesome and healthy recipes to use there!
Adventure On!
