Lake Dan Nature Preserve

Great place for long hikes. Miles of trails, plenty of flora and fauna to see.

There are nice paths, wild life, and a playground. Bring bug spray, water, and your phone, it is easy to get lost.

What a nice place to stretch your legs, walk your dog, and absorb some nature. 10 parking spaces (that are filling up quickly on a weekend) plus 2 disability spots. A small playground at the parking lot, no restrooms or water fountains. The short red trail (loop) stretches under beautiful, mature live oaks and teems with wildlife. Just in the first 15 minutes of our hike we saw armadillos, an alligator, a deer, Great Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Anhingas, Sandhill cranes, and probably missed a lot of other wildlife. The blue trail that is leading to Lake Dan crosses an open field that had been harvested down to the roots and without any plants to discuss and only the sporadic raptor high above in the sky, the 0.8 miles out and back are quite boring and without any shade can get vey hot. We were not impressed by Lake Dan itself. We got a little excited when we saw the pier, but we didn't see a single bird or reptile and while it is probably a good thing for the oxygen levels of the lake that there is little vegetation along the banks or floating on the water, the lake looks a bit sterile. The yellow trail leads through a prairie peppered with scrub oaks and a few Slash and Longleaf pines to connect to the yellow loop that leads you on a wide, grassy trail through a saw palmetto thicket and around a cypress dome, where cypresses on the shallow indentation grow less vigorous than cypresses in the deeper middle of the swamp or pond. Again the yellow trail offers very little shade. Expecting another shadeless trail we skipped the white trail and loop for now. Don't forget to wear sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat, bring water and a bug repellent.

Quiet, peaceful little playground with trails to explore. Playground is great for ages around 2-3. Only walked out to the lake but there appeared to be miles worth of trails.

What a great place! My husband and I decided to do this walking trail for the Hillsborough hiking spree. this was one of the places listed this year with-4 mile trail. We walked the yellow trail, which is what trail the walking spree is on, yellow turns into white at some point then drop you back off on yellow and from our car back to the car it was 3.86miles. The trail is very well marked. Not only do you see the yellow markings either on a tree or some kind of peg in the ground, but you also see the walking spree signs all along with arrows, keeping you on that trail. We saw in other directions, a red trail and a blue trail so we will definitely be back to walk those as well and see how many miles they are. This is a beautiful place if you’re looking to get your steps in and be in beautiful natural Florida. There’s a little boardwalk section, very short where” lake dan” is and we did see at gator. On the trail, we saw 3 deer, lots of Hawks, woodpeckers, butterflies and even a cat! There are some houses very close to this trail, not many tho. Most of the time you’re out in the sun so wear sunscreen accordingly, not much of the trail is Shaded. Some of the terrain is really low cut grass and some is a bit more sandy. Overall we will definitely be back. There is no parking fee and several parking spaces. There is even a little playground as you pull in. This is in a residential area, so you will be passing Florida country with houses all owning several cows, goats, sheep, and horses. We loved that!