I just finished a two week road trip; car camping and riding gravel roads and bike paths in central Florida, with side trips to Georgia and South Carolina. Compared to the terrain I’m used to, the flat roads and paved trails were a nice way to slip back into riding after 4 months of winter weather up here.

Withlacoochee Rail Trail. I did the lower third of this popular trail (just a short distance from my Crooked River Campground campsite). Nice trail and well-maintained.

General Van Fleet State Trail. Rode 40 miles (20 miles out and back) and loved it! Trail runs through the Green Swamp where there are alligators under the bridges and tortoises have the right-of-way.

Flagler Rail Trail (northern end at Lake Harney). Little used and hard to ride - at least at this end. Not much to look at, either. Gave up after a few miles and rode back on the highway.

Marjorie Harris Carr Cross-Florida Greenway In Ocala. A 15 mile paved trail criss-crossed by a network of single track. This trail was actually winding and a little hilly compared to the others. I did the full length on a hot day and while the first few miles were busy, traffic really thins out the further you get. Very nice ride.

As far as gravel riding: People at a bike shop In Ocala told me that Ocala National Forest roads had a lot of sugar sand (they were right - I had a hard time on them) and recommended nearby Withlacoochee State Forest. I spent an afternoon riding the network of hard packed forest roads there and saw only one other cyclist.

A couple of other highlights:

Francis Marion National Forest in S. Carolina. Even if the camping there wasn’t so hot, the gravel riding was top-notch and I plan to go back to check out more of the many miles of deserted roads.

Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge near Macon, GA. Beautiful network of quiet forest roads. Some wading across streams was required.

Okefenokee Swamp. Camped here my first night. Not really much riding, but the long access road is quiet with a low speed limit and a turnoff to a landing on the Suwannee River.

In all, a little more than 200 miles of riding and I feel like I just scratched the surface. ‘‘Twas nice.


Francis Marion National Forest

The end of Flagler Trail that I rode was rideable but a little too much loose sand with some debris due to lack of use. A couple of regulars at the small park where the trail starts had no idea it was there. To be fair, I only rode a bit of it and it might be a completely different experience in other sections.

I returned to more snow than when I left. Ugh. I’m waiting for a chance to head down your way to ride, since spring will probably make it to you first.

Hey Jody, I used a variety of sources. If you’re talking about the rail trails, the Rails to Trails Conservancy has a website https://www.traillink.com/ that lists them, with reviews. It’s pretty much all there.

The gravel riding info. came from a variety of sources:

-Places where there are organized gravel rides are likely to be good, so I check out where events are. Here’s a calendar of them: Events Archive -
That’s how I found Francis Marion National Forest in SC, which hosts a ride called the Swamp Fox. You can even download maps of those rides from Ride with GPS.

- I Google my brains out - looking at Google Maps, locating forests, wildlife and wilderness areas, etc and checking out networks of roads in them. It also helps sometimes to look at them on Google Earth. I Google the places I find to see if there’s any info posted by local riders - and check Ride with GPS to see if anyone’s posted any rides there.

- I check with local bike shops. One in Ocala turned me on to the great gravel riding at Withlacoochee State Forest.

Hope that helps!