Steinhatchee Falls — Attraction in Perry

This was our first experience with visiting and hiking on public lands other than state parks or national and state forests. It was a more "wild", and less managed, experience.

We arrived at the Tennile trailhead, which is the northern end, only to find they had clear cut all the trees. The only white diamond metal trail marker we could find was at the map kiosk and it was on the backside of a tree and not immediately visible. We walked around for about 15 minutes but could find no other markers or a trail so we decided to go down to the Falls entrance and start from there.

The trailhead for the 1-mile loop at the Falls was not marked and I stumbled on it by sheer accident because the white dollar-sized metal markers were non-existent at first and spaced very far apart. It joins the longer 6-mile trail which forms the loop back to the Falls parking area.

The area at the Falls is a nice picnic area with access to the river for swimming or tubing. A portable toilet was there that was relatively clean. There was no water for drinking or hand-washing at either trailhead. There is another path past the boat launch that is not marked as an official trail, but it follows the river...

Important to note that the 'trails' listed within this tract section of the conservation area are not maintained. Nor are they marked well, or accurately.

Of the 3 groups of people who attempted to walk the trails on the day we visited, only we managed to complete an actual 'hike'. An elderly couple, and a young couple with an 11 year old girl both gave up after about 100 feet.

The 'trail' quickly disappears into thicket, marsh and a tangle of fallen trees and palmetto plants. Impossible to traverse even with poles. Long pants required, and a machette suggested.

Even where one can discern the approximate path, trail markers (white diamonds) were either stuck into the bark of trees not aligned with trail direction, were found attached to broken limbs lying on the ground beneath foliage, or nowhere to be found. 95% of our walk was along the hardscrabble and gravel roads within the park. (See route track from Gaia GPS photo)

The river itself was lively, and sounded relaxing along the rapids. The 'falls' are mostly scenic, as they are between 9"...

I understand why the parking lot was empty. Picnic area was fine and well cleaned, had a porta potty as well as it's right next to the falls. I looked at the map and saw that they had a trail and a loop to hike, but that was one of the worst trails I think I have ever been on. It felt like there had been no maintenance in at least a year and no hikers in at least a month. The grass the whole way was over a foot tall, branches downed all over the trail, a few trees over the trail as well with some you had to go under and an excessive amount of spider webs. The markers are hard to see as well, small white squares every 100 ft in a forest is not good enough, I ended up losing the trail at some point where it went from the loop to the trail and ended up going back before I found the trail again. As soon as I got close enough to the road I just cut across and use the road to get back to the parking area. So if you plan on just coming to have a little picnic and look at the falls great place to be, but if you think you're going to do some hiking go...