Chase Outdoors

Cycling the bikes trails of Florida has become an annual winter ritual for us New England mountain lovers.  The omnipresent trails offer an escape from the harsh northern temperatures and a gentle alternative to ascending steep snow and ice covered northern peaks on skis, snowshoes and crampons.  This year, we spent nearly a month exploring the truly exceptional paved trails and wilderness preserves of Florida, plus an additional three days on peaceful and scenic Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia.  Initially staying with friends on the southern edge of Ocala National Forest for two weeks, we explored the Gainsville, Withlacoohee Bay, West Orange, Lake Mineola, Withlacoochee, Seminole-Wekiva, Van Fleet, and Auburndale paved bike trails in the central part of the state.  Two more days were occupied investigating Merritt Island and Woodruff Wilderness Preserves.  Afterwards, traveling northwest to the Panhandle, our intrepid band of cyclists rode the Nature Coast and Tallahassee-St. Mark’s Trails en route. A cozy cottage at Grayton Beach State Park was a comfortable and convenient base camp for riding the circuitous Timpoochee Trail along the beaches and through the picturesque coastal villages of Santa Rosa, Seaside, Blue Mountain, Grayton Beach and others.   In addition to wonderful riding, Florida’s trails offer an abundance of wildlife.  During a four hour solo ride on the Van Fleet Trail, I spotted three feral pigs, a gopher tortoise, two snakes, an alligator, two turkeys and a deer – an episode that has the makings of a great holiday song.  Thousands of birds and scores of different species entertained us in the Merritt Island Preserve and an enormous alligator blocked our path while riding in the Woodruff Preserve.  The only thing lacking in the Florida biking experience is a quality guidebook.  As author of the hiking guidebook, Mountains for Mortals – New England, I’m ready for the challenge and in search of a publisher.   Visit my website, www.ronchaseoutdoors.com, for more information on my book and a record of other published works.  Our southern getaway ended on beautiful and historic Jekyll Island, located a few miles southeast of Brunswick, Georgia.  A labyrinth of ubiquitous bike trails makes the island a cyclists’ paradise.  Trails take riders through Jekyll Island’s historic district, to ancient ruins of an old plantation, past golf courses, resorts and picnic areas and along beaches and dunes of the Atlantic.  Our thirst for sunshine and warm weather quenched, we departed for more adventures in the frigid mountains of the northeast.    

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.