Cypress Creek Nature Preserve (Tampa)

Love this park, I go frequently. Great area for walking/hiking. Lots of armadillos. I have seen some hogs that followed me once. The entrance doesn’t make sense. The parking lot is not near the trail. They really need to connect/extend the trail to the parking lot. Trails aren’t marked well, and the mowing is inconsistent. Be prepared to connect with nature and navigate yourself.

This is a very quiet walk on a mowed path with a mix of sun and shade. There is nothing really to see but it is a peaceful walk off the beaten path. We saw 3 deer during our walk. It can be easy to get lost so we used All Trails to navigate. The parking lot is past the official trailhead. You turn left onto Lizard Tail Rd and the parking lot is at the end on the left. There is no cost to visit and there are no restrooms available.

The parking area is near the end of the street. You need to walk back 1/4 of a mile to access the trail entrance, at the brown and white sign. I followed the red trail with my dog 🐕. The park wasn't very busy at noon time, another couple with their dogs were also trying to find the entrance to the trail, but left in their car before I could inform them of what info I found on getting to the entrance of the trail.

This trail is nice, dog friendly on a leash! Woodsy walk with more tree cover or full sun options to walk different trails. We have seen armadillos frequently before dusk time. Parking is very confusing initially, you have to walk along the road to get to the trail head entrance a quart mile away from where you park. It parking lot has trash cans and a picnic table which is a cute resource. I don’t remember any bathroom porta potty option. Found an abandoned shed out there which was kinda creepy initially and I’ve always bumped into another person/walking groups each time I’ve visited.

A very nice set of trails tucked away in between the 75 and 275 highways. Pet friendly, but not for Biking. You enter the parking off of New Tampa Blvd onto Lizards Trail Rd and then you need to walk the sidewalk to the preserve hiking entrance. The parking lot is small but probably adequate for most of the daily traffic. There are some covered picnic tables, a bike rack, and trash cans as well as the park info kiosk. The walk to the entrance is about a quarter mile but unfortunately part of it does not have a good sidewalk and requires you to walk on Lizards Trail Rd road. Once you get to the entrance off of the New Tampa Blvd sidewalk you are able to connect to a boardwalk which leads to 3 trails (red, yellow, and blue). These trails are all large enough for a service vehicle (most of them you can see the tire tracks from the vehicles) and they don’t have any obstructions other than mud/water here and there. Definitely not recommended to visit this preserve immediately after a rainstorm as it would be a muddy mess. The three trails in total (including the walk from the parking lot) is listed as being 3.22 miles but you will easily make it about 4 miles roundtrip if you do all the loops. While there are some color markers on the trails, there are multiple confusing areas where the trails meet with other service roads that look the same, so be on the lookout for more color markers each time you pass these intersections. Also the trails are shady is some areas but open in others, so sun protection (and bug spray) are recommended.