The Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail is a paved walkway stretching 16 miles from Boulware Springs Park in Gainesville, through beautiful woodlands, past deep lakes and prairie vistas, to the town of Hawthorne.
This 16-mile recreational greenway connects modern Gainesville to historic Hawthorne. The Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail is a Rails-to-Trails project; an old railbed now paved for bikes, pedestrians, and wheelchairs. The trail also accommodates horseback riding.
For those who enjoy cycling without the rigors of off-road mountain biking the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail offers a great alternative. You can bicycle from Gainesville, along the north rim of the Paynes Prairie State Preserve, all the way to the east end of the trail in Hawthorne just two blocks from the Hawthorne Historical Museum. Most riders find the trail to be easy to moderate in difficulty, with a few hills. The trail is rarely interrupted by road crossings. A number of kiosks along the trail feature a self-guided tour brochure.
