Find the top rated horseback riding trails in West Pensacola, whether you're looking for an easy short horseback riding trail or a long horseback riding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a horseback riding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
A pleasant trail with lots of shade for hot and humid summer saunters.
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.
The Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail is really a net work of trails within the Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores AL. I highly recommend doing it without a map. Just let your instincts take you from trail to trail. There are paved segments,boardwalk segments, wooded areas, marshy areas all teaming with wildlife. The surfaces are in good shape and you can easily rack up 25 miles of riding. I started at sun up at the park headquarters where there is a lot of parking. I spotted osprey and other marsh birds and some gators. All in all a great ride.
I had planned to cross over from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island on the Ferry to ride but the Ferry was broken down. So Plan B was to ride the first trail I came to....the Fort Morgan Road Trail. I road it from Peninsula Golf Course to the entrance of Gulf State Park and back. The trail is in very good condition and I would categorize it as easy. I did enough "extra" to total 14 miles. It connects to the network of trails within the state park known as the Hugh Branyon Backcountry trails. When you combine the two you could easily do a 30+ mile ride on nice surfaces.
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.
Took my dog with me and literally wore us both out. Very nice trail with lots of shade, flora and fauna.
We spent 4 days biking all the trails in the Gulf State Park - returning to many trails multiple times. The trails are in excellent condition, there are several areas to stop, relax and view the natural areas you’re biking through. The boardwalks are impressive and well maintained. This is a top-notch biking area and if we’re ever in the area again, we will definitely return to these amazing bike trails!
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.
I can't improve upon the above Trail Description or the previous Trail Reviews. In simplest terms, the trails of Alabama's Gulf State Park are absolutely awesome! My wife and I traveled from California in March of 2022 to experience the trails and we had the time of our lives!
Be sure to visit the Gulf State Park website for a map or have the Rails-To-Trails TraiLink app handy since there are twenty-seven trails and/or connectors within the park. We wanted to ride as much of the expansive system of trails as possible, and it was like putting a challenging puzzle together to organize our routes.
Every trail has something that makes it interesting or fun. Our favorite trail was Gulf Oak Ridge for its beautiful views from the overlook platform, and for riding through the forest of trees which envelope the trail.
Kudos to Alabama State Parks for this park and its system of trails. I wish I could ride these popular trails every day like michaelraydunaway!
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