Paved with asphalt and crumb rubber
The Withlacoochee State Trail's 46-mile length makes it the longest rail-trail in Florida and a great route for bicycling.
Featured as Trail of the Month by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the path runs between Citrus Springs in the north and Trilby in the south in an area generally between Tampa and Orlando.
While the trail is open to all, its path through small towns, ranches and natural areas of the Withlacoochee State Forest means bicyclists have the trail all to themselves for long stretches.
As Tampa cyclist Alan Snel writes on his Bike Stories blog:
“I'm not a giant fan of paved trails because many urban trails funnel diverse users such as bicyclists and pedestrians onto a single path — a combination that can get dicey at times. But a rails-to-trail path through a forest and rural country is a great ride because there are few crossings and little trail traffic because of the remoteness of the trail.
“I've biked on few bike trails as good as the 46-mile-long Withlacoochee Trail …”
Alan took a ride on the Withlacoochee this weekend and filed the report, “Biking the Big W.”
The conservancy says the trail got its start more than 100 years ago when CSX trains carried phosphate from mines in the area, but the boom had paled by the 1980s when CSX pulled up its tracks.
The trail was paved with a combination of asphalt and crumb rubber from recycled tires, which the conservancy reports gives “trail-users the pleasant sensation of walking, running and riding on air.”
A bicycle ride on the trail was described in the Washington Post in 2002:
“The Withlacoochee — which takes its name from an Indian word meaning “crooked river” — seems to retreat through time. Its northern trail head appears firmly planted in modern-day Florida, beginning in a somewhat Fellini-esque setting of asphalt roads plotted through empty lots in a housing development. Toward the trail's midsection, the landscape — with its 1960s-era towns — starts to resemble Old Florida. Finally, in the cowboy community at the trail's southern end, time has downright stood still: Trilby, with its pink wooden church and petite post office, appears unfazed by 21st-century worries and Disney, a little more than an hour east.”
The trail is supported by a citizens group, Rails to Trails of the Withlacoochee, which makes sure the trail stays in top-notch condition. For the past 12 years it has sponsored the Rails to Trails bike ride (pictured above) from Inverness.
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