Find the top rated trails in Jacksonville, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The Carrollton GreenBelt is the largest greenspace and greenway conservation project ever undertaken in the city of Carrollton's almost 200-year history. The 16-mile paved loop runs along public...
The Silver Comet Trail follows the bed of the old Seaboard Air Line. From 1947 to 1969, the shiny Silver Comet passenger train provided luxury service between New York and Birmingham. Today, three...
The Heritage Park Trail links two paths at the confluence of the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers, where these two waterways meet to form the Coosa River. Paved promenades line both sides of the...
This is a rolling paved trail that follows along the shoreline of Guntersville Lake and is alongside Sunset Drive. Some of the hills are a little long, but there are plenty of flat areas as well. The...
In northeast Alabama, the nearly 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail is a regional playground that passes through welcoming towns and pastoral landscapes. Following a former CSX railroad corridor, the...
This is a rolling paved trail that follows along the shoreline of Guntersville Lake and is alongside Sunset Drive. Some of the hills are a little long, but there are plenty of flat areas as well. The...
A rugged trek through the North Georgia mountains, this 4.5-mile trail is ideally suited to hikers and mountain bikers. Despite its quiet, dense forest setting, the Simms Mountain Trail does pass...
In northeast Alabama, the nearly 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail is a regional playground that passes through welcoming towns and pastoral landscapes. Following a former CSX railroad corridor, the...
The Silver Comet Trail follows the bed of the old Seaboard Air Line. From 1947 to 1969, the shiny Silver Comet passenger train provided luxury service between New York and Birmingham. Today, three...
The Carrollton GreenBelt is the largest greenspace and greenway conservation project ever undertaken in the city of Carrollton's almost 200-year history. The 16-mile paved loop runs along public...
The Heritage Park Trail links two paths at the confluence of the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers, where these two waterways meet to form the Coosa River. Paved promenades line both sides of the...
A rugged trek through the North Georgia mountains, this 4.5-mile trail is ideally suited to hikers and mountain bikers. Despite its quiet, dense forest setting, the Simms Mountain Trail does pass...
The Silver Comet Trail follows the bed of the old Seaboard Air Line. From 1947 to 1969, the shiny Silver Comet passenger train provided luxury service between New York and Birmingham. Today, three...
The Heritage Park Trail links two paths at the confluence of the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers, where these two waterways meet to form the Coosa River. Paved promenades line both sides of the...
In northeast Alabama, the nearly 33-mile Chief Ladiga Trail is a regional playground that passes through welcoming towns and pastoral landscapes. Following a former CSX railroad corridor, the...
The Carrollton GreenBelt is the largest greenspace and greenway conservation project ever undertaken in the city of Carrollton's almost 200-year history. The 16-mile paved loop runs along public...
This is a rolling paved trail that follows along the shoreline of Guntersville Lake and is alongside Sunset Drive. Some of the hills are a little long, but there are plenty of flat areas as well. The...
Chief Ladiga Trail, Nov 2018, *Excellent*
I recently bicycled from Dallas, Ga, to Anniston, Ala. An excellent ride which I highly recommend, that could easily be broken into sections for a family outing or weekend 'de-stressor'. Thank you to those responsible for the development and maintenance of this path. Great job!
Comments;
Trail surface conditions; excellent. The path is cement in Georgia and asphalt in Alabama for the entire length. It is well drained, smooth, wide, and in generally excellent repair. A few areas tree roots have encroached and damaged the asphalt path, but this is not currently an issue.
Signage & markers; very good over all. Markers are located every mile, however a recommended improvement would be to add distance values to cities, towns, trailheads, etc. As for signage there is very little. Interpretive plaques, historical markers, place names, availability and direction of restroom\food\lodging\police\medical signs, etc. could be added at appropriate sites.
Trail maintenance; very good to excellent. The trail right of way is clear and wide, free of encroaching brush and bordered by well kept grass. Some vistas could be improved by clearing underbrush which would allow viewing of surrounding area. Especially when approaching some road crossings is this true. I noticed virtually no litter. Trestles and bridges, while currently usable and safe, are showing typical wear and age. Hopefully a schedule of maintenance exists for these.
Amenities; average. While benches and rest stops are conveniently located and not too far apart, I think toilets or port-a-potties are needed trailside at appropriate locations.
Great job to those who created this trail!
I recently bicycled from Dallas, Ga, to Anniston, Ala. An excellent ride which I highly recommend, that could easily be broken into sections for a family outing or weekend 'de-stressor'. Thank you to those responsible for the development and maintenance of this path. Great job!
Comments;
Trail surface conditions; excellent. The path is cement in Georgia and asphalt in Alabama for the entire length. It is well drained, smooth, wide, and in excellent repair.
Signage & markers; very good over all. Markers are located every mile, however a recommended improvement would be to add distance values to\from cities, towns, trailheads as the existing markers only provide overall distance in miles, kilometers, and elevation. As for signage there is very little. Interpretive plaques, historical markers, place names, availability and direction of restroom\food\lodging\police\medical signs, etc. could be added at appropriate sites.
Trail maintenance; very good to excellent. The trail right of way is clear and wide, free of encroaching brush and bordered by well kept grass. Some vistas could be improved by clearing underbrush which would allow viewing of surrounding area. Especially when approaching some road crossings is this true. I noticed virtually no litter. Trestles and bridges, while currently usable and safe, are showing typical wear and age. Hopefully a schedule of maintenance exists for these.
Amenities; average. While benches and rest stops are conveniently located and not too far apart, I think toilets or port-a-potties are needed trailside at appropriate locations.
Great job to those who created this trail!
This is the main trail I go to. I wish there were signs for the Buddy System for safety along with wearing a bicycle helmet. I wrote a book about this trail after walking the whole trail in 2004 with friends. The first day I went alone and that convinced me to find friends. I love this trail.
Started at the Chief Ladiga trailhead at Michael Tucker Park in Weaver / Anniston. As someone else mentioned, plenty of parking and clean, open bathroom facilities. Every bit of this trail is well marked and very well maintained. The buckles or bumps in the trail were marked with white paint.
Took the recumbent trike since this was a paved trail. And, while I wasn't planning to ride all the way to the AL/GA border and the link with the Silver Comet, the trail, weather conditions, mix of shade and sun, I found myself just going... and going... One of the other bikers at the start told me it was a flat ride (relatively), he wasn't kidding. All the elevation changes are gradual, long sight lines, no blind curves, so made for as easy or fast as you like.
Trail was never crowded, bikes, a few hikers/walkers and a single skateboarder (near the college in Jacksonville). Saw flock of wild turkeys, some squirrels and one rabbit. Plenty of birds, dragonflies and butterflies
I hadn't planned on the full out and back, but with Piedmont right in the middle of the out and the back, was able to restock water as needed. Lunch along the trail was as peaceful as could be.
Anyone of any ability could ride as much or as little of this trail as they like. Multiple places along the trail to park, all the road crossings are clearly marked and only one listed as "caution". Plenty of shade, especially in morning or late afternoon. All the bridges are in excellent shape.
Quite a gem.
Coming from Sarasota, Florida where our Tamiami Trail is flat, has no scenery and is barely shaded, my husband and I really enjoyed the ups and downs, the scenery and the shaded portions. We completed it two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday starting after 3 PM.
I started my ride at the trailhead in Anniston, a really good spot to begin the ride: a large parking-area directly on the trail, a lovely and well-kept park, and, what was a total surprise to my wife and me, it not only has public restrooms, but also showers, not locked but open for everyone, and with HOT water at that, and everything perfectly clean! We were enthusiastic! Considering the hot showers there, it might also be a very good end of a ride, of course.
In Jacksonville the former railway depot now is a well-maintained rest stop, with absolutely clean facilities. Water is also available there. And don’t forget to sign the guestbook for the trail.
The end, the spot where it connects with the Silver Comet Trail that is, has a nice rest area with benches and a Porta Potty which, after a 33-mile ride, might come in handy.
When I rode the Chief Ladiga Trail on May 19 this year, it was an absolutely fantastic day. It was quite warm, and the humidity wasn't half bad, but as the trail quite often lead under the thick leafy canopy of the trees and as I had the airflow around me, it certainly was bearable. The air was gorgeously fresh, and smelled of every possible tree, shrub, and herb, and I kept thinking that here even the air one breathes was green. I didn't see any larger wildlife, but an abundance of squirrels and chipmunks. The small towns I passed through were some nice distraction – not that I had needed one as the trail showed enough variety: sometimes leading through open meadow, sometimes through green tunnels in a manner of speaking, and later with the wooded hills of Alabama in the background, with a blue sky and fluffy white clouds above. And in between again and again the green wetlands of a slowly meandering gurgling creek.
Finally, a remark about the state of the trail: absolutely fantastic – smooth asphalt from beginning to end [I could easily have ridden my road bike instead of the more cross-country-suitable Salsa Fargo], and if there was a slight dent in it, from a root that was pushing the asphalt up, that was marked with white paint, even if it was just half an inch up. The people who first created that path and now maintain it in such a perfect condition deserve a lot of praise and a heartfelt "thank you".
Started at Tara Drummond trailhead. There are real restrooms and water there. Headed west to the tunnel (9.8 miles) It must have been 15 degrees cooler inside. Very good experience on a 90 degree day.
The trail is quite scenic, complete with sections where the trees canopy over it. Didn't see any animals at all, but we cycled from noon til about 2:15 so they were probably all taking a siesta.
Seemed like we were going uphill as we pedaled west. Not too bad, even for recumbent trikes.
Pavement is concrete but in very good condition. I just wish there was water and restrooms at the tunnel. We were slugging back a lot of water during the 20 mile round trip ride and that was our only letdown.
The third trail of our trip from Fl to Ms and Al. We had rode this trail before it was paved and didn't remember how long ago it was, the host at the Eubanks Center in Piedmont told us it has been paved for over 20 years. Piedmont is the heart of this trail. The round trip to Georgia's Silver Comet was the best part. There are views of the mountains to the sides of the trail. The state border has a nice rest area and great signage. As we went through Jacksonville there was trucks and equipment on the trail, they were cleaning up damage from the April tornado. On both sides of the trail you could see the destroyed buildings. The Jacksonville Train Depot was a high point, we used it for our last day start and end point. Then just down the street we found Struts where we celebrated completing our trails with great wings and beer. We would return to this trail.
Was planning on this being an overnight bike trip, as the kids have never done more than a 10 mile ride. We packed overnight gear, etc. Unfortunately, the forecast for the 2nd day turned sour and the kids decided to push through and finish the ride in one day! they did great - largely on the original rail/paved trail. Towards Rockmart and Cedar Town, it diverted through some downtown areas and some of the uphills were rough..but by and a large a great trail! Both kids left with a great deal more confidence than when they started!
Scenic and long. Great trail to rack up milieage. Pavement is excellent and we'll maintained. Plenty of rest stops for the weary. Go get it.
We didn't complete the trail but it was perfect for the kids (10 and 7). It was dirt and gravel with some hills but not too challenging.
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