Find the top rated birding trails in Lake City, 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.
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!
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.
I rode this trail on 3/27/19, the day after a thunderstorm. Be that as it may, the trail is not well-maintained. The leaves were piled up almost to the pedals at places, lots of cracks and breaks in the asphalt and there were lots of exposed tree roots that were not marked. The area is quiet, beautiful, the trail does not seem well-used. I only passed 3 people along my ride.
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.
Trail had a great surface for biking, but not much for scenery. 3/4 of the trail runs out in the open along a highway. The rest was through a nice wooded area.
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 began our ride at the little park in Pinetta where we used the restrooms before heading towards Madison. The first couple of miles was littered with branches and upheavals from tree roots, but soon improved. Although the trail parallels the highway, there is enough distance between the two that the moderate traffic is not much of a distraction. The biggest detractor for us was that in our 19 mile round trip ride there were no other restrooms until our return. As we ride slow, and my wife is disabled, it was a real inconvenience. Other than that it was a pleasant ride.
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.
It appears the map for this trail needs updated. Per directions, we drove 8 miles from Palatka on 100 to find a parking area, not realizing we were paralleling the trail that must now connect to the town of Palatka. On the return drive we passed a parking area only 3 miles from the town. The trail itself was quite nice. We rode 14 miles round trip, but would have appreciated restroom facilities somewhere along the trail. The trail was smooth and flat, passing forest and field.
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