Find the top rated running trails in Jacksonville Beach, whether you're looking for an easy short running trail or a long running trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a running trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Rode the trail this morning hoping to get in a good ride unfortunately the Trail Bridge is still out. No signs stating when it may be repaired!
Rode on Saturday Veterans Day. The parade in Palatka was great. We parked at Riverfront Park. Rode across street to the Quality Inn parking lot and right there you can catch the trail over the river. Rest of trail easy to follow. It’s 3.5 miles to the start of the tree canopy portion. Trees end at 6.7. Then a straight hot ride along Hwy 207 to Hastings for a total of 11 miles. It was 84 today so feeling the heat and humidity. I was expecting a longer section of tree canopy. I’m glad we did it but most likely would not be in my list of repeats.
Traveling US 17 to the trailhead at Black Creek Park the bridge was coned off and caution taped with a sign saying trail close. About midway the bridge was collapsed in one short section. We went to the trailhead and walked south to the water and then north to the next intersection so Yoo-Hoo could stretch her legs. The trail wasnt that appealing as it paralleled US 17 with a lot of side street and commercial driveway crossings to contend with. The traffic noise was also a factor. Its probably more of a good neighborhood trail but not one to do for an enjoyable recreational ride.
The bike pedestrian bridges and trail between Little and Big Talbot Islands have been completed. It’s now possible to ride 9 miles continuously from Fort George Inlet to the North end of Big Talbot Island. As of October 2023, the pedestrian bridge from Talbot to Amelia is still closed and in need of repair.
You now can pedal from Keystone Heights to the town of Hampton, adding about six more miles of paved trail to enjoy.
Rode the trail end to end. It is a nice trail, nothing really sticks out except spud farms and view going over St. John’s River. Mostly open to the sun when riding along SR 207, shaded when trail deviates away. Surface was pretty good, better heading west than east.
I was able to add a few more miles in Palatka than shown on map, finished with 48 miles. Will ride again.
...A very good walking path, but always a work in progress due to Neverending construction...I for one miss the Landing!
...This is a great walk path, a bit noisy with the bridge traffic, but overall terrific...
I have ridden this trail several times between the trail end at the St. Augustine end and the Amtrak station in Palatka.
The trail is nearly "calibrate you level" flat the whole way except for the bridge over the St. Johns River. It's easy to pedal.
A couple of long chunks of trail are along route 207, but the trail has it's own right of way, separated from the road by 30 feet or so. It can be a bit noisy and the traffic is moderate. There's not much shade, but there are nice views of farm fields.
The vast majority of the rest of the trail is shaded and runs through some wild areas, some wooded back yards and across a few streams. Very pleasing. The trail also goes through Hastings that has some interesting buildings. Just east of Hastings, is a farm complex that has a couple long horn cattle in a field as well as an old train station, caboose and locomotive that were apparently a museum at one time.
The trail winds along some streets of East Palatka, then over the bridge to Palatka proper. The trail will take you to the northwest side of town, but I usually turn around at the Amtrak station.
There is good parking, restrooms and bottle filling stations at the Vermont Heights, Armstrong and Cora C. Harrison (Hastings) trailheads. There is also some fast food and a gas station convenience store in East Palatka as well as a small parking lot.
The Amtrak station also has rest rooms as well as a small railroad museum inside.
There are a few road crossings with route 207 - which is a four lane highway with a median. They are all equipped with traffic signals to get you safely across.
The trail surface is asphalt-paved all the way and generally pretty good. There are some sections where it's getting bumpy from roots pushing up and the county should really try harder to keep the surface clean of leaves and pine needles, but there is nothing unsafe for a road bike - a hybrid/dual sport might make for a more comfortable ride, though.
What this trail REALLY needs is completion into St. Augustine. It would be a great tourist attraction and could help boost the economic activity of towns along the route.
This trail used to be the mainline of the Florida East Coast Railroad connecting Jacksonville to Miami (and briefly, Key West) along the east coast of Florida. Palatka was once a rail hub. But, the FEC built the Bunnell cut-off - a straight route from St. Augustine to Bunnell - to shorten the route and the Palatka "branch" declined and was abandoned before becoming a rail trail.
We have rode this a couple times in the last couple months. We parked at north end point of main trail where future trail will cross HWY 100 north of Keystone. It’s not really a parking area but there is room for about 6 cars and I saw other people parking there so we did too. As other people have said it is within 20-30 yards at times of HWY100 but it ducks in and out of the woods and there is plenty of trail that isn’t close to the highway. We rode out 22 miles to south of the State Forest north of Palatka and then headed back. There is a little
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