Monday, March 12, 2012

Biking the Withlacoochee Bay Trail

Earlier this week, we had to take the Dodge to the dealer in Crystal River to have them check on a recall that we had gotten a notice on.  Thank goodness all checked out well!  Since we were in the area, we had packed up the bicycles so that we could peddle the Withlacoochee Bay Trail.  This trail is part of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.  You may recall from previous posts that this greenway actually started as the Cross Florida Barge Canal.  It was supposed to be a coast-to-coast canal thru Florida but is now a 110 mile long greenway!

The trail is five miles west of the Felburn Trailhead to the Gulf of Mexico.  It runs parallel to the canal for the first 2.5 miles and then switches its path to the south side of the "berm" created by the canal's excavation for the second half of the trail.  This part of the trail runs thru maritime hammocks and salt marsh.   Along the way there are several look-out points and picnic areas.

Taking a break!

Dan enjoying the views!

There was no one on the water!  Seems like a very nice place to kayak and we know we will be back someday with the Sea Eagle!  But, for now, we had to finish the trail.  It was a perfect day for a bike ride and the reward at the end was amazing!

Nice views of the Gulf!

Should have brought our picnic lunch!
We had a great time on the trail!   Later in the afternoon, we scouted out a few campgrounds in the area and then headed back to Cedar Key.  We had a great day and look forward to many more bike trips!

4 comments:

Gail Houle said...

Looks like a place for a perfect paddle just waiting for you!

Glad the recall turned out ok.

Catherine, Jo Beth and Grace said...

Love the Florida bike trails. That looks like a great one.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!

Bruce and Laura

Charles Rinehart said...

Bruce and Laura: Biking here is so much fun. I know you all had a great time. I promote bicycling on Florida Paved Trails. Hope you can Google 'Trail View Mount' to see my website. I have a lot of photos from the Withlacoochee Bay Trail'. Stay safe.