Devil's Millhopper Sinkhole, Gainesville

NOTE: The boardwalk was damaged by the hurricane. There is still some trail left, in and out. The full trail will be open again summer 2019.

It's fascinating how there are sinkholes all over Central and North Florida! There are billboards for Sinkhole Restoration Services and The Sinkhole Guy to come and fix your sinkhole problems! If you would like to walk down into a real sinkhole, the loveliest of all is Devil's Millhopper, and what a gorgeous name to boot!
Here, you walk along a wooden boardwalk that zigzags down 120 feet to the watery bottom of the sinkhole. Along the walls of the hole is the most lush rainforest with ferns galore and a trickling vertical stream. It is a tropical paradise! The reason lush vegetation can grow here is that there is a spring at the bottom that warms the sink in the winter and cools it in the summer.
This is the perfect place for a walk on a hot day because it's shaded, fairly cool, and there's some slope, giving you a good workout. It's nice to look down from above, an aspect not often seen in flat Florida. Although it looked like mosquito heaven, we weren't bitten at all!
Based on the plants and animals found in this sinkhole, archaeologists think the sinkhole formed in two stages, the upper half over ten thousand years ago and the lower half one thousand years ago.
Also lovely is the butterfly conservatory at the Florida Museum of Natural History nearby. And a swim at blissful Ichetucknee Springs.

Directions

Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park is located at 4732 Millhopper Rd, Gainesville FL 32653. 
Open 9-5 W-Sn. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. 
Cost to enter is $4 per car, or $2 per bike or pedestrian.

Click on map for interactive view