Find the top rated birding trails in Maitland, 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.
Pros: easy access, clean, well-maintained and numerous restroom/pit stop/playground areas, Winter Garden (cool town with lots of energy), varied scenery (neighborhoods, town, golf course, highway frontage section, ball fields), great for families, excellent trail markings (if you got into trouble or have a mechanical, it is very easy to tell someone where you are).
Cons: if you’re a serious cyclists there are too many slow sections (through town) and intersections to post a solid effort, two sketchy areas where it wouldn’t be wise to get off your bike, crowded in parts (not dangerously though-folks we passed were respectful and moved to the right), the northeast end of the trail was not well marked and we couldn’t figure out if we were lost or the trail had ended.
We are avid cyclists and have thoroughly enjoyed this trail two times in the past year. The trail is well-maintained and we saw park patrol out and about during both of our trips. If you’re looking for a solid workout this trail is perfect. Minimal traffic, only a few intersections to cross and flat as a pancake. There are restrooms at both ends of the trail and at least one in the mid-point of the trail. Water fountains are sparse so make sure you’re carrying nutrition and plenty of water.
This beautiful trail has 4 parking lots @ the 0-10-20-29-mile markers. On 1Jan, Tom and I rode from Mile 0 @ the Polk city parking lot to Mile-15 out and back. We saw several box turtles and a few Gators in the water! On 2Jan we parked @ the Mile-20 Parking lot. Rode out and back to the 29-mile marker, then back to the 15-mile mark out and back! We saw quite a few more box turtles sitting out front of their burrows; if I parked bike and tried to get close for pic, they would quickly scurry back into the burrow! We enjoyed watching one cross as fast as she could from the opposite side of the trail back to her burrow... Saw a gator happily sunning self on side of trail! This trail rides primarily alongside a swamp on both sides... it is awesome if you like a natural setting with only 3-4 total rural road crossing. All mile markers are painted on middle of the pavement! We came from NC to get away from cold Jan weather---this trial was a perfect choice for two days of riding. Benches with bike tools and Trash cans are provided along trail. It was extremely clean! Although trail has some age, the pavement is not "rooty" I highly recommend this gorgeous 29-mile rail-trail ride! I just might come next winter for another two-day out-back ride on this trail!
Green Spring Park to Trail Bridge in Osteen - 5.3 miles (seemlessly continues from Trail Bridge), Osteen to Guise Road - 2.7 Miles about 8 miles..
Great Ride, well maintained trail. No Trailer parking at Green Springs Park but trailer parking available next door east at boat ramp parking. Not many people given it was New Years Day, beautiful place to explore..
I started at Lake Beresford Park which has a loop trail good for maybe 2+ miles. Head south towards Blue Springs which is an interesting place especially viewing the river & watching the manatees swim around where you could otherwise swim in summer. Surprisingly lots of people at the park for a weekday morning. Further down the trail there was some construction going on to extend the trail; after that riding on a wide sidewalk for mile or 2. I'm not sure how you'd get to the southern section via bike because of very busy road in DeBary.
So I packed up the bike & drove to Monroe Park and headed north & east. First few miles were very scenic over a boardwalk. The trail is good until just after Gemini Springs where it parallels a very busy road for a few miles but becomes a peaceful, scenic trail by the time you hit Green Springs. Here is meets up with the East Coast rail trail that goes another 7 miles or so to the gap.
It will be nice once this trail is continuous and also connects up with short stretches in DeLand where there's a lot of jumping around on sidewalks, trails, roads, etc. Some signs would be nice to help navigate. All-in-all a nice trail but needs connectivity work.
We started in downtown Titusville at the bike shop where we rented hybrids. The "trail" was hard to find from there because that part of it is riding on streets with marked bike lanes. Once on the trail it was fine; smooth & flat riding first through suburban housing & commercial development; then out into lush vegetation on both sides.
There was one bench to sit down at but otherwise out to Virgie's stop there was no place to sit/rest, get a drink or relieve oneself. Thankfully there was no rain or hot sun to contend with.
I hear there are stops as you go further west towards Osteen. It will be nice once the short gap is closed so you can go from either Edgewater or Titusville to Deltona and connect up to Spring to Spring trail.
Back in Titusville you're again on marked streets, then you can go over the Max Brewer Bridge on pedestrian sidewalk--nice view of the water or maybe a rocket launch. Not much beyond that for now.
I went from Gobblers Lodge Rd to the Indian River in Titusville(48 miles round trip).
The trail has very few intersections, especially compared to the the Wekiva or Cross-Seminole trails, near me.
You pass through a game refuge, so I wouldn’t recommend this as a dusk ride, and maybe suggest something bright orange? I’m not 100% sure there is a problem with that but I wanted to bring it up just in case.
My favorite sections are when the wooded areas become less swampy, more towards Edgewater and the coast. There is a small missing link - maybe 500 yards after you cross a bridge in downtown Titusville, but there are signs that tell you to go to the next street(Main St I think), and it leads you to green bike lanes.
And the Green paved bike lanes in downtown Titusville are awesome, as another reviewer said, they are as wide as car lanes and even have posts to rest your arm on at traffic lights.
My only real complaint was my legs’ lack of conditioning! Most definitely a nice ride, esp in this late fall/early winter weather.
We came in on the north spur and headed east. If I knew how bad the road was I would have been better prepared. We started out on hard-packed gravel which wasn’t too bad, but as we traveled east, the road deteriorated to a bumpy semi-paved trail. This was much worse than the gravel. We had to slow to 10-12 mph. After we let some air out of our tires, it was a little better but had to closely watch the road for bumps and holes.
It is a nice ride through natural Florida & it’s so beautiful and peaceful, really enjoyable ride.
We had previously ridden the Spring to Spring Trail, which we highly recommend, and hoped that it would be connected to this trail, however, that is not the case,,,,, yet. We opted to take to this trail at the northern most spot which was at Gobblers Lodge, which had great parking and an outhouse. We found the path to be in excellent condition, with occasional rest stops with benches and refuse cans, however, not much shade, so wear your sun block. At the 6.5 mile mark of our ride, we came to the split, where you would either opt for Edgewater to the left, or Titusville to the right. We took the left fork and continued on. Although it was a beautiful Sunday, there were not many riders out, but this part of the trail is not near anything, or any homes or businesses. Just a trail through the natural beauty of Central Florida. We reached Rt I95 at the 10 mile mark, and drove under it, As we neared Edgewater, we came across a pedestrian bridge, which took a little effort to cross, but you can avoid it and cross the road instead with little problems due to low traffic flow. We continued on until we reached the end of the trail in Edgewater and took the sidewalks for an additional mile in order to reach the Indian River, where we had lunch. On our return ride, we stopped at a local deli for some awesome sandwiches, which we saved for later along the trail. We saw some wildlife during our ride, which included an Eagle, Pelicans, a beautiful blue heron in flight, a huge turtle, 1 snake on the path, and an armadillo. We finally reached our van after our 48 mile ride, which was allot longer than I had planned for today, but I hate to stop and turn around before reaching some kind of destination, which usually involves a body of water. LOL. We had a great time, and plan to return in order to head toward Titusville, which appears to be a longer ride. We will most likely pick up the trail at the parking lot just after the split on the trail for this ride. Thank you for all those responsible for these wonderful trails.
Rode various portions of the trail over the course of three visits to complete the whole trail. From Killarney Station to Vineland-Apopka Station is still the best bike trail in Florida. Skip the part from Vineland-Apopka Station to Lester Road. Even so, this trail deserves 5 Stars
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