Find the top rated birding trails in Crestview, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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One of our favorite ways to spend Saturday and Sunday mornings is riding the Blackwater Heritage State Trail. It’s a beautiful, well-maintained trail that’s perfect for a relaxing ride. The entire trail is paved, and there are plenty of stopping areas with restrooms along the way, which makes it super convenient for a longer ride.
The park service does a fantastic job of keeping the trail clean, regularly clearing away leaves and branches to ensure a smooth ride. There are two access points to the trail: you can start from Caroline Street or Old Bagdad Highway.
For my wife and I, we prefer parking near the waterfront park and picking up the trail around the visitor center, though we’ve done both starting points and they’re both great options. No matter how you approach it, it’s always a peaceful and scenic ride. If you’re looking for a nice way to spend a morning, I highly recommend giving it a try! Plus, there are 3 different breweries when you finish that serves up a very nice cold brew.
I spent the month of January, riding this trail. The area was a strange interface of crowded developments and state parks. There are many roads and driveways intersecting the trail. I imagine, at the height of the Spring Break Season, the crowds would be terrible.
It does not get much better than this, plenty of parking and access points, bathrooms clean and well spaced along the way, nice visitor center and plenty of benches to take a break if need be. 12' wide nice smooth paved trail, slight elevations, nice scenery. In town plan on some stops at road crossings but people are very bike friendly. There is a great bike store too along the downtown trail head if you need something. I just moved about 15 miles from this trail and will be using it often!
Wide for the most part, paved, water stops on east side section that is in town. Crosses a lot of driveways, both residential and commercial so you have to be aware of vehicles entering and leaving. The few miles on the eastern end are out of any residential or commercial development, At the eastern terminus of the trail there is a bike lane that begins on the road that you can ride another approximately 15 miles Navarre Beach.
Had a blast with my wife! Rode to Seaside for some good Greek food from one of the food trucks. Easy riding! If you want beach scenery you’ll need to leave the main trail. This is one we will do again. We rented our bikes from Rideit on Santa Rose ¿ Beach.
Took my dog with me and literally wore us both out. Very nice trail with lots of shade, flora and fauna.
Loved this ride-- rode it in late Feb, 70° and very little traffic through the national seashore portion. Loved the pristine dunes and having the ocean on one side and Santa Rosa sound on the other. Plenty of places to stop and rest or have a picnic.
The trail is narrow & crosses the road several times as it passes through beach towns on the Gulf of Mexico. The scenery is pretty decent. I rode it on a weekday in February & it was pretty busy. It's worth the time if you're in the area.
Left Rosemary Beach and headed west on Friday, February 2nd, 2024. Road and trail was completely closed around Mile 13..no way to detour…planning on 30 miles plus with lunch in Seaside..had to turn back. Deer Lake Park was worth the visit.
The trail is awesome with several bridges over more than 11 lakes, meandering through several beach towns and neighborhoods. There’s public beach access along the way as well as many restaurants, coffee shops, bike shops and other retail. At mile marker 5 from the east of Inlet Beach, the trail/road over Deer Lake is all torn up. I was able to walk around the construction because no one was around on Christmas Eve Day when I did the ride, but normally you probably wouldn’t be able to. I was able to complete the entire trail from Shades Bar and Grill on the east trailhead to Topsail Hill State Park on the west end. Loved the adventure. Hybrid bike on all paved trails; 5 hours to complete; 40 miles out and back; 11mph; 650 ft elevation. (flat)
Sure it’s a bit busy and “townie” in the middle but it’s a charming, well maintained and absolutely beautiful ride. The sand dunes and birds with the ocean sounds in the background. We thoroughly enjoyed this trail.
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