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Just to let people know, conservation park at the west end has a 9 mile loop that I frequently ride. It is dirt/ gravel so no road bikes. Im not sure if all the other trails allow bikes but its all posted. Im adding a picture that shows the trails.
We rode this trail in March, 2019 and would like to share some observations. The trail has great potential, connecting four state parks. Personally, when I ride it again, I would stick to the western section beginning just east of Grayton Beach SP to Topsail SP. The eastern section has over one hundred driveways and an annoying surface including paver bricks and sidewalk. In addition, the Seaside and Seagrove Beach areas were very congested and I had to walk my bike through crowds of people. To be fair though, it was during spring break.
Gayle's trails is actually four different interconnected trails, each interesting. I suggest that you park in Frank Brown Park, which has bathrooms and water. The park also is the trail head and has a very useful map of the trail system.
This is an easy trail and the town people are friendly. Hurricane Michael devastated this area. Riding this trail will make you realize how powerful a category 4-5 hurricane really is. Blountstown is more than 60 miles from the coast and Michael still landed a major blow here. Hats off to the folks that cleared this trail! Still nice but not as much shade for reasons you will discover!
I use this trail often. It is a nice trail and goes through the backsides of nice neighborhoods. Very safe and 90% of the people walk their dogs on leashes. The trail extends from near the post office to out by the new hospital. Often used by runners, skateboarders and people on golf carts. One can vary the trail and see sites such as the Constitutional Museum or add a leg by riding in the bike lane to access the main "Old Town" shopping area and marina.
If you're training for the Tour d'Anything, this isn't the trail for you. If you want to park your car in one of the towns and use the bikes to Gary around, they're great.
We ride "hybrid" bikes (something in between road bikes and mountain bikes). We found them pretty ideal for this trail.
We parked at Seaside and rode east to Camp Helen State Park. The park itself isn't a bad ride.
Another day, we went west to Grayton Beach. We ran into trail construction there, but we rode south to the beach, and around town. We later found that we probably could have re-entered the trail on the west side of town, and continued westward. The construction looked almost complete, so it is likely to be a non-issue soon after this review is posted.
The trail is ideal for exploring the towns, and goes close to lots of shops and restaurants.
There were a few other trails heading north toward hwy 98 that were in the final stages of construction. These were interesting, and we may explore them next year.
Two days after riding from Rosemary Beach to Seacrest and back (see "Not Close To Its Potential"), we returned and rode the section from Watercolor to Grayson Highlands State Park and back. This section has been significantly improved. Although still too narrow and unlined, the asphalt is smooth and adequately separated from the roadway, with new bridges. Someone needs to pay for similar improvements from Watercolor east. If they do, this would be a 4 or 5 star ride.
We rode 8 miles of this "trail", from the unmarked east end in Rosemary Beach to Seaside Beach, and back. This "trail", for most of the distance we rode, is just a very narrow glorified sidewalk, ill-maintained and in places downright dangerous. Parts of the "trail" are simply road shoulders, with no more than a few feet of separation from opposite direction vehicle traffic. That some vehicles have in the past entered the "trail" was evident from the bent-over rubber posts supposedly delineating the edge of the "trail" / road.
We passed at least a dozen bicycle rental outlets, each with hundreds of bikes. We were told that during peak vacation periods most of those bikes would be out on the "trail", with many very young and at times unsteady riders capable of veering into oncoming bicycle or vehicular traffic. While it was not busy during our ride, we saw no one else wearing helmets.
Between the bicycle concessionaires, the owners of the very valuable adjoining properties, the restaurants and other business profiting from trail users, the municipalities through which 30A passes and the county road commission, sufficient funds should available to (1) widen the trail to a minimum of 10', (2) repave the entire trail, (3) add appropriate paint markings and a center division line, and (4) install guardrails between the highway and the trail where the trail cannot be moved away from the road.
Given its premium location, this "trail" has the potential for perfection. At present, it isn't even close.
I rode this trail the entire length. It is not a bicycle trail for serious bike riders. While it wanders through some beautiful terrain, it is compromised by many driveways and road crossings not to mention the multitude of pedestrians. In Rosemary Beach area it is a concrete sidewalk about 4 feet wide. In many places the trail is very rough with pots and bumps due to the many cuts and patches.
If you are into a slow touring ride you will be OK.
I was greatly disappointed in this trail. An 18-mile, paved trail sounds so wonderful, but the reality was a different story. It has so much potential, it is a shame that it wasn't better designed and isn't better maintained. Mountain bikers, walkers and joggers might find this trail ok, but there is a reason all the road-bikes were on the road and not on the trail, and someone on inline skates would not be able to use most of the parts of the trail we experienced (the 6.5 miles on the southeast section).
Having read the reviews of how busy and crowded this trail tends to be, we set out early on Christmas morning to enjoy this trail. We started at the southeast end of the trail, planning to ride our Trikkes at least 10 miles before turning around. The trail was so poor, we gave up in frustration at 6.5 miles, and Trikked back to the car. Perhaps further on the trail we would have encountered better conditions, but we were too tired of trying to navigate bad conditions to find out.
The trail is amazingly inconsistent. Some areas are narrow sidewalks, others are wider asphalt. A few sections are smooth, but too many sections are bumpy, with cracked asphalt that is heaving.
Much of the trail is below the level of the road, with little-to-no vegetation to stop the runoff of sand, dirt, rocks and debris, across the trail. Some sections are actually the shoulder of the road, with only flexible plastic pipes, sticking up perpendicular from the road, to divide the trail from the roadway, with cars and trucks flying by.
At various points, the property owners are watering the trail with their underground sprinkler system, creating puddles as deep as 2 inches. The design of the trails did not provide for drainage.
The one real plus is that in the morning, most of the trail is shaded, which would be wonderful on hot summer mornings.
The area near Alys Beach was beautiful. While I understand the money isn't available to have all 18 miles that nice, there is a lot that could be done with this trail to make it more enjoyable.
Today we drove up to Port St. Joe's to ride the Loggerhead Run Bike Path. This trail is not fancy, but it is more consistent, well designed for drainage and sand control, and a delight to ride, albeit with little shade. Those who designed and maintain the Timpoochee Trail could take some lessons from them. I only wish we had booked our accommodations near Port St. Joe's- but now we know for our next trip to the region.
The description for this trail says 7.7 miles, but it actually about 8.7 miles, end to end.
We parked at the Salinas Park which had clean restrooms, and is located across the street from the South Gulf County Volunteer Fire Department.
We road our Trikkes (see Trikke.com for more info about Trikkes) out to the end of the trail, which is at the entrance to the St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.
The trail runs right next to the road, is about 6 feet wide, and for most of the trail it is marked with center white lines to denote lanes for oncoming cyclists and pedestrians.
The surface is smooth and clean for the majority of the trail. One section, between mile-marker 6 and 7, is lacking enough vegetation between the road and the trail, so that area had several spots that were covered in mud or sand. This is hazardous for those on inline-skates or riding a Trikke.
There is little to no shade, and at parts it felt like we were in a wind tunnel, but overall, it was a nice trail.
If we were there during busier times, and needed to pass pedestrians and there was oncoming traffic, I might have found the trail to be a bit narrow, but today the trail was pretty empty.
Given the number of recent deaths of cyclists and pedestrians, nationwide, due to inattentive driving, adding rumble strips along the edge of the road on the side of the trail, would increase safety.
Overall, I say, "Kudos and thank you to the folks who made this trail happen!"
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