Some Great Rail Trails Of The Deep South

The deep south has some dandy rail trails. One of my western Pennsylvania fellow bicyclists decided to follow the sun and moved to the Florida panhandle. Says he,"Come on down and try 'em; you'll like 'em," rail trails, that is. I had previously done Florida trails, including the Withlacoochee, but Walt Ebbert, the gadfly in this matter, pushed for us to sample others in the south. But, Walt, that's a "fur piece" from Pittsburgh.

As matters unfolded, George Gerben, a bicyclist from Pittsburgh and I were already planning to head to Florida to ride the Bike Florida event in March, 2003. Moreover, we intended to travel down ahead of time for a special reason, special? George's 80th birthday, that is. He bicycles the number of miles that equals his age on March 3 each year, and his 80th birthday was truly a special one. The Withlacoochee Trail was perfect for meeting that goal. Before I get into the trails that Walt was enticing us to ride, I have to say that George did indeed ride the 80 miles on March 3. However, we miscalculated and did 81, which left one for good luck or to rail bank for next year's ride on his 81st. Cheri Fitzgerald and Bob Prouix, friends from Florida, also rode with us and provided dinner and champagne for the celebration. What a day!

Getting back to the gadfly, his enticements were more compelling now that we were no longer such a "fur piece" from home. So, "Walt, you're on." He had in mind the Longleaf Trace in Mississippi, the Tammany Trace in Louisiana and the West Orange Trail in Florida. Let's look at them, but first, the Withlacoochee.

The Withlacoochee Trail has been written up in Rails to Trails Conservancy's magazine and is well worth riding. It is wide, paved and extends 46 miles from the hamlet of Trilby at its southernmost point to Gulf Junction near Citrus Springs and Dunnellon. An easy access point is from Florida Route 50, about one mile east from I-75. Watch for signs to the parking area (restroom facilities, drinking water and lots of parking space). If you are a purist and want to do the entire trail, go south over the bridge that crosses Rt.50 for about six miles to the end just beyond Trilby.

The trail passes through Withlacoochee State Forest and parallels much of the Withlacoochee River, but the closest thing you get to seeing it is a side trail that leads through the trees an indefinite distance to the river. But you=re there to bike, not to swim or see alligators. No? George has made beau coups trips to Florida and would gladly have taken that side trail if we could have promised he=d see an alligator. The trail continues past Silver Lake Campground and the communities of Nobleton, Floral City, Inverness, Hernando, Holder and Citrus Springs.

Toilet facilities along the trail are sparse, but others as well as restaurants are not far off the trail, and. there are a couple bicycle shops along the way as well. By all means ride it, but much of the route is in the open; so, it might be well to avoid it in summer. We didn't have that problem. It rained and was most chilly.

To check it out online, the URL address is much too long to record here. Instead, type "Withlacoochee Trail State Park" in your search engine. This will put some "meat on the bones" of what I've provided so far. When the home page opens, click on the link "Rails to Trails of the Withlacoochee," and, on the resultant page, click on the "See Map" link to get a better feel for its route.

It was a day's drive from Crystal River, Florida to reach Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the southeast end of the Longleaf Trace. What's a longleaf? - a type of pine tree with long needles. So much for the mystique. I've ridden rail trails over much of our nation, and consider this to be one of the best. It's 36 miles long and extends from Jackson Road, near the city of Hattiesburg,

and, traveling northwest, passes the towns of Sumrail, Bassfield, and Carson and ends at Prentiss. Walt joined George and me and served as our tour guide. He's ridden the Trace several times, despite its being a long distance from his home in Florida. He had better join us. He's the enticer who was responsible for our driving over 500 miles to Hattiesburg. I'll describe the trail momentarily, but first I want to comment on lunch. We rode into the town of Prentiss to the Kuntry Kitchen. It's a buffet with so many delicious selections that none of us could sample even a little of each. I couldn't control myself and found the return trip to be the struggle of a glutton. The trip into Prentiss added a few more miles to the day, 76 in all. Walt and his wife, Kathy, have motelled in Prentiss to make a two day ride of the Trace.

Click on photo for larger image

And, what's the Trace like? In a word, super. It's a wide, smoothly paved multiuse trail that mostly is tree lined and shady. Its amenities are impressive. It has several restroom facilities that are attractive buildings with drinking fountains, lavatories and flush toilets. Some are landscaped; others are still being built. Along the way are pull offs with wooden floors, railings and benches.

At one location overlooking a large beaver pond, the observation point is a series of five fenced platforms, complete with benches, at successively lower levels reaching almost to water level. Soon after we began riding from Jackson Road, the current eastern terminus, we came upon a shelter/restroom facility built and maintained by an adjacent land owner as his own special project to benefit the Trace users. The Trace is essentially flat, but not completely so. There are climbs, but they are so gradual that they should be of little trouble to anyone.

To dig into this more deeply, type Longleaf Trace in your search engine and voila a page opens with links to everything you might think of - well, not everything. But its links take you to interests such as directions to the Trace, camping, fishing, rest rooms, souvenirs, events held on the Trace, weather forecasts and an e-mail contact.

Other than for making a pig of myself in Prentiss, and riding on another rainy day, this was a marvelous bicycling experience. We enjoyed the coolness of the time of year and the absence of insects. In the warmer months, it might be a different story.

The Tammany Trace is only a couple hours' drive farther west into Louisiana. Its southeastern terminus is the Slidell/Carollo Trailhead (parking, restrooms and water) from which it runs 31 miles northwest past Bayou Lacombe (cypress kneed wetland), Fontainebleu State Park (on Lake Pontchartrain - parking, restrooms, water, camping, swimming, ruins of a sugar mill), past the Mandeville Trailhead (converted and modernized train station with parking, restrooms, water, historical photos,

and a conference hall), past the Trace headquarters in its Green Caboose (parking, rest rooms, water, childrens' playground, picnic tables), Abita Springs (parking, restrooms, water and artesian well springs) and on to Covington. As the website describes it, "Today, this artists' haven offers eclectic shopping and trendy sidewalk cafes without losing its turnof-the-century charm." However, we never saw any of that. The Trace led us directly to a micro brewery (perhaps that's why we never saw the cafes and trendy shops) and restaurant. Not cheap, lunch for me was crawfish etufe plus a pint of suds and tip at a cost of $16.

We were not able to experience the entire Trace because a key bridge was being replaced and only rode a total of 42 miles. The Trace is older than the others described in this article; the original section was constructed in 1994. Its edges are showing age, but the Tammany Trace Foundation will most likely improve it ere long. It has wetlands on both sides for a number of miles that would most likely be home to a few billion mosquitos in warmer weather. So, as with the other trails mentioned herein, it might be better to ride the Trace in the cooler months before the sun is hotter and bugs make their appearances, lean and hungry. Guess what. For a change, (tongue in cheek) we rode the Trace in the rain. Walt took the pictures in this article, which would have had more sparkle if the sun had been shining.

To get more detail, go to "Tammany Trace" in your search engine. Several links are available to tell all.

West Orange Trail

The West Orange Trail, also recently highlighted by the Rails to Trails Conservancy, is an excellent 19 mile paved trail in the vicinity of Orlando, Florida that affords views of huge Lake Apopka. Its southwest trail head is at County Line Station (modern facility with bike rental, parking, restrooms, water and a children's playground).It passes through the communities of Oakland (water, parking), Tildenville (water, butterfly garden), Winter Garden (larger city with all amenities; beautiful park runs through the center of town), Chapin Station (virtually all amenities), Ingram Outpost (parking), Apopka -Vineland Outpost (parking, picnic shelter, water) and on to Apopka.(modest town- trail isn't finished to the trailhead; so, I'm unsure of facilities). Plans are in place to extend the trail another 11 miles north eastward from Apopka. Moreover, one day it will be a segment of the 200 mile regional connection known as the Central Florida Loop. We missed having Walt along to take pictures. The gazebo and flowered walkway in Winter Garden would have made a nice addition to this exposition. But, would you believe, we finally had a day to ride in sunshine. What a difference good weather makes. If you make it to Walt Disney World, rent a bike and give this marvelous trail a few hours of your day. You will be rewarded handsomely.

This trail, too, has a website. Go to "West Orange Trail" in your search engine and links will provide lots of useful info.

Along with these trails, we rode the week-long Bike Florida event, as mentioned above. Also, I enjoyed four days of backpacking in Ocala National Forest on the Florida National Scenic Trail with my hiking and biking friend, Donna Stowe of Cocoa, but that's another story.

Come to bicycle the deep south in the cooler months. What a great way to get away from snow shoveling!

4/23/03