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Print Friendly MapAlong the northeast coast of Jacksonville, sections of the developing Timucuan Trail have been built in Big Talbot Island State Park and Little Talbot Island State Park. Both offer beautiful, pristine areas for bird-watching and wildlife viewing, as well as beach access and camping opportunities. On the northern portion of the trail, George Crady Bridge over the Amelia River is safe for pedestrians and bicyclists to use to connect to the Amelia Island Trail.
Eventually, the Timucuan Trail will extend further north to Amelia Island State Park and south to Kathryn Abbey Hannah Park, a distance of 18 miles, all paved. It’s part of the larger trail network known as the East Coast Greenway, stretching from Florida to Maine.
Parking and trail access can be found in Big Talbot Island State Park (located on State Road A1A North) and Little Talbot Island State Park (12157 Heckscher Drive).
Despite being relatively short and still fragmented, this trail is still a very solid 5. We began our ride at the parking lot for the Fishing Pier / boat launch at the northernmost entrance to Big Talbot State Park. Parking is limited, but the $3 fee is nominal. Clean restrooms make this a very good staging place. This location also serves as great trailhead for the lower quality, but still worthwhile Amelia Island Trail. It is very safe to use the extra-wide, bike only lane across the A1A bridge connecting both the Ameila Island and Timucuan trails.
The Timucuan Trail is currently broken into 2 segments, but the bike crossing over the bridge connecting Big Island and Little Island State Parks is currently under active construction. Hooray!
We only did the Big Island State Park section along with the Amelia Island Trail. We just didn’t have time to re-stage our vehicle before needing to head on. That said, the 3 or 4 miles we did was stupendous. Take the Black Rock Beach spur to Driftwood Beach. Never found Black Rock, but the ¼ mile to Driftwood Beach is most definitely worth it. Mountain bike not needed, it’s very easy for a hybrid.
We had such a wonderful hike here and were able to take our dog and it was so beautiful.
Great trail. Not hard and would be great for kids and seniors. Trail is mostly shady. Lots of parking.
We did the second half of this trail through the boardwalk and to the Amelia Island bridge. Chose not to continue on pavement as it was busy Sunday road traffic. The bike trail was beautiful, interesting and over way too soon!
Enjoyed my bike ride very much, lots of side trails to veer off that head right to the beach.
We went to the Northern trail. Most of the trail is out of the sun. Great side trails for exploring. Beautiful little ride and trailhead.
I started my ride at the Little Talbot Island State Park. Most of the "trail" here is a marked-off section of the road going back to the furthermost parking lot. There is NO shade and very little to see. However, it is wide and smooth the entire way. If I was to rate this separately, I would give it two stars.
My five star rating is for the Big Talbot Island section of the trail. The parking lot for the beginning of the trail is VERY small, only six parking spaces (and one handicapped). Blink and you'll miss it. This part of the trail is very scenic and has lots of shade. It parallels A1A, but you don't really see the road and the cars for almost the entire way. There is another small parking lot halfway up the trail and there is a wide off-road trail that goes back into the woods for about half a mile. The woods get thicker going North from the second parking lot and then you'll come across the largest parking lot on the trail. There's a sign that says the trail ends, but the trail does continue on. Go through the woods a short way from the parking lot and the asphalt paved path becomes a wooden boardwalk that goes for about a quarter mile. Cross A1A at the end of the boardwalk and you'll come to the first of two bridges that span Nassau Sound. However, after the first bridge, you'll see the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. Almost the entire roadway was undercut by the waves and has collapsed. Only a tiny three foot wide path remains intact, although if it gets undercut any more, that will disappear as well.
Will definitely ride the Big Talbot part of this trail again, it was a really nice ride.
The trail is covered by a beautiful canopy and trees. There were lots of deer and birds. I started from the Amelia Island trail and took the foot bridge to get to the Timucuan trail. I loved it.
Started south at Little Talbot went 10 miles north to Amelia. Great trail. Only a few hundred yards I had to go on A1A shoulder but saw construction workers working on that segment. If this was only somewhere in Europe there would be some small coffees to have a glass of beer/coca-cola after the run but that's a different story...
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