Hiking Crystal River Preserve State Park: Ranking all 6 Trails

Last updated on December 16th, 2024 at 03:22 pm

Crystal River Preserve State Park is not your typical State Park.

There’s no main entrance to the grounds, and no fees are required. On top of that, trails are spread out all over town.

You just pick which ones you want to hike, show up, and enjoy.

I’m guessing if you’ve arrived at this post, you’re trying to figure out which of the trails to hike yourself!

Well, when planning on hiking Crystal River Preserve State Park, I first recommend using this link for the map below.

Plenty of maps are floating around the internet, but this one proved most helpful to us. It did the best job of clearly showing trail lengths and where each trail was located.

I’ll also list each specific trail’s distance below.

Here’s the ranking, from best to worst:

#1 – Seven-Mile Loop Trail – 9 Miles RT from the Parking Lot

We rode the Seven Mile Trail loop on our bikes twice. The first time was right after an all-day rainstorm (I’m not sure why we thought that was a good idea), and we got coated in mud. The second time was a week later. It was still pretty wet and muddy but nowhere near as hard as the first time.

For anyone looking to complete this ride, I would check the past weather and ensure it’s been dry.

On the first go around, we saw the MOST adorable river otter! You can see him and hear Barrett’s excitement below.

He was merely trotting along, jumping in puddle after puddle and completely ignoring our presence. I thought the adorableness was going to make my heart explode, but I somehow managed to get back on my bike and continue with the ride.

The second go around, a wild hog jumped out in front of us at one point, which was pretty neat but also a little intimidating.

They are not to be messed with, so we just stopped, waited until the coast was clear, and then mosied along.

This ride is number one because we saw so much unique wildlife each time we went out.

While on this trail, I also felt like I was riding through at least four different states. While typical Florida tropical trees are abundant, there are also large sections of short and tall pine trees. Then, big, dry open spaces that feel almost like the plains and shaded areas of thick forest hide the light and accumulate mud.

I loved seeing so much variety in the environment and animals each time we went out on it.

It’s such a beautiful trail that you and your bike deserve to see!

#2 – Redfish Hole Trail – .64 Mile Trail

The Redfish Hole Trail was very short but gorgeous!

It’s number two on my ranking mainly because it’s another spot where we saw abundant wildlife while we were out there.

We went during low tide. We were told that was the best time to go and the best opportunity to see a ton of birds!

In the short time we were out there, we saw Vultures, Cormorants, Pelicans, Herons, Osprey, Storks, and hundreds of mini-crabs!

#3 – Crystal Cove Trail – 1.7 Mile Trail

The main hike on the Crystal Cove Trail is relatively wooded. There are also opportunities to jump on a sub-trail along the water for a bit as well, though.

This trail has a lot to see, but we ranked it under the other two merely because we did not have as many animal sightings, and the trail was relatively flat and basic.

We did, however, see a lot of locals fishing here, some boats, and even a water moccasin snake.

#4 – Chuchhouse Hammock Trail – 1.2 Mile Loop

The Churchhouse Hammock Trail is convenient to access and possibly the one most used by locals in the town. It’s the only one we saw people on regularly.

It has a boardwalk scattered throughout a lot of the trail, and one part of the path ends with this epic view:

#5 – Eco-Walk Loop Trail – 2.2 Mile Loop

The Eco-Walk Loop Trail was calm and peaceful. It was very flat and an easy walk. The area is boggy and swampy.

There was nothing wrong with the loop; it just didn’t leave as lasting of an impression after all the other trails.

#6 – Dixie Shores Lake Loop Trail – 1.9 Mile Trail

When we first arrived in town, I called the State Park to ask about the park’s trails.

When I asked the woman about the Dixie Shores Lake Loop Trail, she implied there were better trails to be seen. She told us it was a tangled, complicated-to-understand, unkempt mess.

She wasn’t wrong. But to Barrett and myself, that felt like a challenge.

She also told us if we did decide to do this one, to stay to the right because that was the trail they had most recently been working on clearing.

So, we took the path to the right for a bit. I’m not sure if this was because of the rain or because of the trail just being unattended to, but from what we could figure, the trail basically ended less than half a mile in at a dock that just ended.

We did see what possibly could have been a trail a bit back and to the right, but it was covered in water.

We decided to turn around and move along to other hikes. We only had so many days in Crystal River.

We chose not to spend all our time trying to figure this one out.

BONUS: Fort Island Gulf Beach

Fort Island Gulf Beach is not so much a trail, just an awesome bonus we found by merely continuing to drive down the road our campground was on.

It had many picnic areas, a beautiful white sand beach, and is a great place to watch the sunset.

It’s also a possible manatee viewing site!

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