Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Starting to learn about The Villages
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Old 08-26-2023, 11:45 AM
RalphTheElder RalphTheElder is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by srswans View Post
The preserve is not that big - you can see the entire walkway from the entrance - less than a mile in length. It is pavement and boardwalk. Nice place to walk but I wouldn’t call it a hike.

Hogeye Preserve in Marshview is similar but longer - approximately 3 miles but still not what I would call a hike.

South of 44 has plenty of paved pathways for walking - I can easily do a 10 mile walk from my house - again, not really a hike.

For true hiking, you need to leave TV. The Lake Apopka Loop Trail is 17 miles with a few spurs. Loose gravel, hard pack and some dirt make up the trail as it wanders through woods and along the lake. A decent hike but not much elevation change.

As another poster mentioned, the Florida Greenway has many miles of hiking and camping too.
srswans, that was a super-helpful reply. Thank you so much!

I had read that the Sharon Rose Wiechens Preserve is the largest preserve in the Villages, so I ASSumed that I would be able to take a long walk / hike there. Thanks for educating me about that.

And, thanks for mentioning that it is possible to take a 3-mile hike / walk in Hogeye Preserve in Marshview! That is the sort of distance that interests me.

Thanks again for the reply.