Out & About A Walk in the Park

A Walk In The Park

Location: Devil’s Millhopper

BY FABRIZIO GOWDY

Just inside Gainesville’s city limits, Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park (4732 Millhopper Rd.) provides a scene more typical of a mountain ravine than North Florida. A boardwalk descends 132 steps into a 120-foot-deep collapsed sinkhole, transporting you into a mini-rainforest complete with trickling creeks and waterfalls.

WHEN YOU VISIT

V With the sinkhole located just a few hundred feet from the parking lot, this is one of Florida’s most easily accessible natural attractions; you can leave your close-toed shoes, bug spray and sunscreen at home. Like most Florida state parks, Devil’s Millhoper is open 8 AM to sunset and admission is $4 per vehicle. Park amenities include bathrooms, water fountains, and picnic tables. Leashed pets are welcome.

V In addition to the wooden boardwalk to the bottom of the sinkhole, a half-mile trail encircles the sinkhole’s rim. This trail is ordinarily a loop, but a bridge closure has turned it into an out-and-back for the time being.

V The open-air visitor center contains several exhibits explaining the history and geology of the park. Devil’s Millhopper is a remarkably large cover-collapse sinkhole, the product of 34-million-year-old Ocala limestone being slowly dissolved over time. Many shark teeth and fossils have been recovered from the sinkhole’s creeks and walls, a result of the warm, shallow marine environment that once covered most of inland Florida.

Legends

MUST SEE

As you descend down the boardwalk and into the depths of Devil’s Millhopper, be sure to listen carefully. As the sound of cars on nearby CR 232 fades away, you’ll hear the sound of rushing water—half a dozen small streams and waterfalls trickle down the sides of the sinkhole and collect in the bottom. Thanks to the sinkhole’s depth and its shady canopy of trees, you might notice that the temperature seems a bit cooler as you near the bottom of the boardwalk. On sunny days, the pool of water at the base is a beautiful milky blue color. Several trees, some fallen and some still standing, rise up out of the water. The sinkhole’s steep sides and flowing water means it is always shifting and changing. Park visitors are occasionally reminded of this fact by small mudslides that snap trees and send them sliding into the hazy blue water.

With its unusual name, it’s no surprise the park has some unusual legends surrounding its origins. In Native American folklore, the devil kidnapped an Indian princess and created the sinkhole to trap the tribe’s warriors as they pursued him. The devil turned the trapped rescuers into stone, and their tears are now the water that trickles down the sinkhole’s creeks. Europeans thought the sinkhole represented a grain hopper in a grind mill. The discovery of bones and fossils at the bottom led them to believe it was used to feed animals to the Devil, hence the name “Devil’s Millhopper.” In the late 1800s, the sinkhole was rumored to swallow up drunk sinners, with one traveling evangelist warning that it was a gateway to hell. u