Explore the best rated trails in Lakeside, FL. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the 6th Street Rail Trail and UF Campus Greenway. With more than 15 trails covering 124 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Jacksonville's Northbank Riverwalk offers scenic views of the St. John's River and the city skyline. It's also part of a larger effort called the Emerald Greenway, which will connect 14 miles of trail...
Along the northeast coast of Jacksonville, sections of the developing Timucuan Trail have been built in Big Talbot Island State Park and Little Talbot Island State Park. Both offer beautiful, pristine...
Connecting the university town of Gainesville with rural Hawthorne, this 16.5-mile trail makes for a great day trip, complete with a hill or two and plenty of wildlife. While the path roughly...
The Waldo Road Greenway, Depot Avenue Rail-Trail, and Kermit Sigmon Bike Trail are seamlessly connected as part of Gainesville's ever-expanding rail-trail network, offering users three trails in one....
Jacksonville is developing an interconnected 14-mile trail system called the Emerald Necklace. Portions of the route are already on the ground, like the Southbank Riverwalk, which borders the St....
The Amelia Island Trail, on Florida's northeastern coast, runs from Peters Point Beachfront Park to Amelia Island State Park in the city of Fernandina Beach. Much of the paved, tree-lined route...
The UF Campus Greenway was completed in 2016 and now winds across the University of Florida in Gainesville, uniting the east and west sides of the sprawling school grounds. The beautiful, paved trail...
The S-Line Urban Greenway is a rail-trail that runs just over three miles.
Rolling out of the city’s west side, the Palatka-to-Lake Butler State Trail offers a slice of quiet paradise, journeying more than 25 miles to Keystone Heights through well-canopied forests, pine...
The West 6th St Trail utilizes an abandoned rail corridor that runs partially parallel to West 6th Street, through an urban area of Gainesville. The paved hiking and biking pathway connects to the...
The Black Creek Trail parallels U.S. Highway 17, from Orange Park south to Black Creek Park near Lakeside, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Passing through scenic forest and wetlands, the trail...
The Palatka Urban Trail provides a safe bike-ped route over St. John’s River via Memorial Bridge. The trail is a connector between the Lake Butler-Palatka section and the Palatka-St. Augustine Trail....
The Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail currently runs through the communities of Armstrong, Elkton, and Vermont Heights in northeastern Florida. Much of the route follows State Route 207, hence its...
Just west of bustling downtown Jacksonville, the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail-Trail, one of north Florida's oldest, traverses a rural setting of hardwood uplands, wetlands and pine flatwoods. A dense...
Paralleling State Route 21, this multiuse path provides an important connection between the charming community of Keystone Heights and Gold Head Branch State Park. The trail begins downtown at a...
The Palatka Urban Trail provides a safe bike-ped route over St. John’s River via Memorial Bridge. The trail is a connector between the Lake Butler-Palatka section and the Palatka-St. Augustine Trail....
Jacksonville is developing an interconnected 14-mile trail system called the Emerald Necklace. Portions of the route are already on the ground, like the Southbank Riverwalk, which borders the St....
Connecting the university town of Gainesville with rural Hawthorne, this 16.5-mile trail makes for a great day trip, complete with a hill or two and plenty of wildlife. While the path roughly...
The UF Campus Greenway was completed in 2016 and now winds across the University of Florida in Gainesville, uniting the east and west sides of the sprawling school grounds. The beautiful, paved trail...
The Waldo Road Greenway, Depot Avenue Rail-Trail, and Kermit Sigmon Bike Trail are seamlessly connected as part of Gainesville's ever-expanding rail-trail network, offering users three trails in one....
The Amelia Island Trail, on Florida's northeastern coast, runs from Peters Point Beachfront Park to Amelia Island State Park in the city of Fernandina Beach. Much of the paved, tree-lined route...
Paralleling State Route 21, this multiuse path provides an important connection between the charming community of Keystone Heights and Gold Head Branch State Park. The trail begins downtown at a...
The Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail currently runs through the communities of Armstrong, Elkton, and Vermont Heights in northeastern Florida. Much of the route follows State Route 207, hence its...
Jacksonville's Northbank Riverwalk offers scenic views of the St. John's River and the city skyline. It's also part of a larger effort called the Emerald Greenway, which will connect 14 miles of trail...
Rolling out of the city’s west side, the Palatka-to-Lake Butler State Trail offers a slice of quiet paradise, journeying more than 25 miles to Keystone Heights through well-canopied forests, pine...
The S-Line Urban Greenway is a rail-trail that runs just over three miles.
The West 6th St Trail utilizes an abandoned rail corridor that runs partially parallel to West 6th Street, through an urban area of Gainesville. The paved hiking and biking pathway connects to the...
The Black Creek Trail parallels U.S. Highway 17, from Orange Park south to Black Creek Park near Lakeside, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Passing through scenic forest and wetlands, the trail...
Along the northeast coast of Jacksonville, sections of the developing Timucuan Trail have been built in Big Talbot Island State Park and Little Talbot Island State Park. Both offer beautiful, pristine...
Just west of bustling downtown Jacksonville, the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail-Trail, one of north Florida's oldest, traverses a rural setting of hardwood uplands, wetlands and pine flatwoods. A dense...
Connecting the university town of Gainesville with rural Hawthorne, this 16.5-mile trail makes for a great day trip, complete with a hill or two and plenty of wildlife. While the path roughly...
The Amelia Island Trail, on Florida's northeastern coast, runs from Peters Point Beachfront Park to Amelia Island State Park in the city of Fernandina Beach. Much of the paved, tree-lined route...
The West 6th St Trail utilizes an abandoned rail corridor that runs partially parallel to West 6th Street, through an urban area of Gainesville. The paved hiking and biking pathway connects to the...
Jacksonville's Northbank Riverwalk offers scenic views of the St. John's River and the city skyline. It's also part of a larger effort called the Emerald Greenway, which will connect 14 miles of trail...
The Palatka Urban Trail provides a safe bike-ped route over St. John’s River via Memorial Bridge. The trail is a connector between the Lake Butler-Palatka section and the Palatka-St. Augustine Trail....
Rolling out of the city’s west side, the Palatka-to-Lake Butler State Trail offers a slice of quiet paradise, journeying more than 25 miles to Keystone Heights through well-canopied forests, pine...
The Black Creek Trail parallels U.S. Highway 17, from Orange Park south to Black Creek Park near Lakeside, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Passing through scenic forest and wetlands, the trail...
The Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail currently runs through the communities of Armstrong, Elkton, and Vermont Heights in northeastern Florida. Much of the route follows State Route 207, hence its...
The UF Campus Greenway was completed in 2016 and now winds across the University of Florida in Gainesville, uniting the east and west sides of the sprawling school grounds. The beautiful, paved trail...
The S-Line Urban Greenway is a rail-trail that runs just over three miles.
The Waldo Road Greenway, Depot Avenue Rail-Trail, and Kermit Sigmon Bike Trail are seamlessly connected as part of Gainesville's ever-expanding rail-trail network, offering users three trails in one....
Paralleling State Route 21, this multiuse path provides an important connection between the charming community of Keystone Heights and Gold Head Branch State Park. The trail begins downtown at a...
Just west of bustling downtown Jacksonville, the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail-Trail, one of north Florida's oldest, traverses a rural setting of hardwood uplands, wetlands and pine flatwoods. A dense...
Along the northeast coast of Jacksonville, sections of the developing Timucuan Trail have been built in Big Talbot Island State Park and Little Talbot Island State Park. Both offer beautiful, pristine...
Jacksonville is developing an interconnected 14-mile trail system called the Emerald Necklace. Portions of the route are already on the ground, like the Southbank Riverwalk, which borders the St....
Rode it today,9/30/2019. Nice canopied trail for most of it,which is important on a 90 degree day. Started on the Jax side of the trail. On the way back saw a few wild turkeys on the trail at about the 3 mile marker. Tip-bring plenty of water bottles if you intend on doing the full trail.
Just moved here from Pasco County on the west coast of Florida where I was spoiled by the Suncoast / Starkey trails. Only been on two trails, St. Aug to Palatka (which i found depressing, and annoying playing frogger across two 4 lane divided highways and a stretch next to a manure plant).
This trail was a breath of fresh air though. It's mostly wooded, and sheltered from the winds for the most part. There are two spots to get fresh, clean, cold and GOOD TASTING water. Being creative with the routes to get 30, 35, 40 and 50 mile rides.
Only complaint is that there are sections that are very bumpy, and until you find the right lines you're going to get rattled around on a road bike with narrow tires...
There are parts of this trail that take your breath away, with lakes and streams and boardwalks that take you out into nature. The trail is well maintained with lots of shade. It’s awesome!
Love the newly paved path. (4 stars) there’s a bathroom near the cemetery/picnic area. (Didn’t see it until we were driving to Palatka) The only thing I didn’t like about the newly built portion...no shade. The bridges were cool and we did see some gators and turtles. Maybe ride it in the early morning or late afternoon during the hot months. Just a thought...
WoW what a fantastic trail. We started our journey in Baldwin at the trailhead which is a former rail station. WE traveled towards Jacksonville. The trail offers great sights. The trail is flat as well as paved. The trail cuts through wooded areas that offer a ton of wild life. We saw a Black Snake (actual name as well as color) not poisonous, Turkeys, Turtles, Eagles. We did not expect this trail to be as good as it is. Take water on this trip. There are rest areas about every five miles apart. We rode the trail in April on a sunny and 85 degree day. We found other cyclist on this trail to be natives and very friendly and glad to have out of towners riding the trail. This is a connector trail and even though the traffic at times was heavy it was always well spaced apart. Enjoy this one.
Attended the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday 6 April, 2019. About 200 people...riders, trail group pavilions, dignitaries, and trail friends. Official opening of the last link from Spuds thru Hastings to the rest of the segment starting west of Hastings. Beautiful run. Got a newly broken in 40.6 mile bike saddle butt on the new Palatka to St Augustine State Trail, which will become another finished segment of the St Johns River 2 Sea Loop, a 250 mile loop in north central Florida.
Parked in Hastings FL and went east out first to the end of segment near I-95 heading towards St Augustine 24.2 miles out and back. Then headed west to the trailhead in Palatka. 16.4 miles out and back. Little sore in the saddle the last few miles. Overall. A great day, and a new daily distance record. 283 total miles recorded in the first two months of trail biking in central Florida. Mostly rails to trails corridors.
We did the second half of this trail through the boardwalk and to the Amelia Island bridge. Chose not to continue on pavement as it was busy Sunday road traffic. The bike trail was beautiful, interesting and over way too soon!
Rode from Keystone Heights to end-of-trail in Palatka. 10 miles Keystone Heights to Florahome; 12 miles Florahome to Palatka. There are some mile markers on the trail but it can be confusing. The end-of-the trail in Palatka is MM6 (why not 0). So if you are at MM16, you are actually 10 miles from Palatka. The trail is in great condition! A small part of the trail (10 yards) is covered by water but it was only a few inches deep and easy to cross. There is also a small parking lot on Forest Hills Road in Melrose adjacent to the trail.
This trail is great when it comes to biking in Florida. Beautiful scenery, lots of forest riding and farms. Few miles of highway riding. Can make this ride 50+ miles easily.
First of all, the weather today was perfect. Sunny and 68!!! Started at the Hawthone trail head and rode into Gaisville with a 3 mile rt detour to an overlook . All total-38 miles. Great trail. The standing water mentioned in other posts is not a factor. Maybe 50feet of water but not too deep. The rest of the trail is very nice. A lot of things to see-preserves, overlooks etc. I have done a lot of trails in Florida and on the East Coast. This is a very nice one-peaceful. Some minor inclines but nothing to worry about. Seems safe, clean and well maintained. The trail has a connector into Gainsville -a nice little city-where you can hook into some other trails.
We parked at the Larry M Carrol Memorial Park in Baldwin, where we used the restrooms in the restored depot. We first rode to the Brandy Branch Road trailhead before turning around and riding 7 miles back towards Jacksonville and then returning to Baldwin.
The trail is in great shape, and is shaded most of the way. People were friendly and polite. As the description cautions to beware of coral snakes I kept an eye out, but still nearly ran over a little rough green snake on the path. He was as surprised as me. I understand coral snakes do not strike, but must chew their way into your flesh, so I sure wouldn’t let any fear of them detour me from this beautiful trail.
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