Alfred A. Ring Park — Attraction in Gainesville

This park is a gem and a case of "what's not to like?", really. I debated whether to award four or five stars, and I selected four only because it isn't fully remarkable and outstanding, however, it's still a very good park and unique. The county has done a great job of maintaining it as a natural habitat in a suburban residential area while placing enough improvements to make humans comfortable here. They've also included handy informational signs explaining the various ecosystems you tour through while walking around and the paths are well-maintained and boardwalks in good repair. There is a wildflower garden which is nice but could be bigger; a playground which seems like an afterthought and should be larger if they're going to fool with it at all, and some very lovely paths to walk around. One thing I really like is that these paths are as unimproved as possible--dirt and leaf-little aside from where a boardwalk or bridge is necessary--yet very walkable. I don't mind paths I have to scamper around on myself, but I like the idea that everyone from a seven year-old boy to a seventy year-old grandma can enjoy these paths.

The Hogtown Creek cuts through here and it's a great place to see the creek and understand how it is essential for waterflow for Gainesville. In the nearby Forest Ridge subdivision, you can find a water tower and pumping station which I presume still pumps water for residential use from this watershed.

Every time I've been here I've encountered people walking dogs and it's a great place for dogs, too, but please keep your dog on a leash or else ensure it is very friendly . . . one ran up to me today and seemed pretty aggressive and wasn't on her leash. So many people walk dogs here that if one is loose and easily excited, I can foresee a dog fight happening if it ran around the corner into another dog. You will almost always encounter other people (and dogs) here, so be...

Nice park divided up into separate areas: parking, playground/picnic area, garden, hiking.

We visited this dog and child friendly park while waiting for our car's 5000 mile maintenance checkup at the Toyota dealership. It was 9 minutes away.

Parking area is small. Driveway shares the Elk's Club.

The beginning of the park is a shaded trail that opens up into the picnic area. Super nice large pavilion with a men and women' bathroom and play area .

Women's bathroom was nasty, but clean with toilet paper. There was a lot of rust on the mirror, inside door, and dripping down the walls from the soap dispenser.

Not much in the way is a playground, but it looked new and well maintained.

Leaving the picnic area is a short trail that leads to the garden. Was very peaceful and zen with nice seating areas and a water feature. Not much in the way of garden plants, but a very nice space.

The walking trail starts after the garden. It meanders along and over a creek. There are a lot of well built walking bridges made of recycled plastic and well stocked dog stations. The trail stops at a roadway and we turned around to walk back.

The whole park experience was very nice and took maybe a half hour. The park was not busy, but we did encounter other pleasant people and leashed pets along the way.

It was a nice discovery and I highly...

Looking for a little miniature nature adventure in this concrete jungle? Then travel to Alfred A. Ring Park. This park features two routes to explore they're essentially the same as they both lead to the same endpoints where one is used to shorten the route. The total distance or length of this trail is roughly give or take .7 miles one direction. The trail also runs along a little stream with a soft sand bottom. Venturing in the stream is allowed, however bring water to clean off your feet as they'll be sandy afterwards. Near the parking area is an area that consists gender separated restrooms, next to a roofed picnic area . Also in the immediate area a set of jungle gym and slide that the kids can climb on. While venturing on the trail be weary of spider webs as a mass population of wolf spider also resides in the park (they like to come out at night and shoot webs everywhere). Another caution the wooden bridge is slippery when wet so...