Cross Florida Greenway Trail

Since a 12 hour mountain bike race closed the Santos Trails in the Ocala National Forest where we biked yesterday, we drove over to the Cross Florida Greenway Trail a few miles away, which is connected by trails to the Santos trails. We parked at the Land Bridge Trailhead (see link above for trail maps and trailhead locations) lot and biked for nearly 2 hours, exploring the area. These are "blue" or intermediate difficulty trails, probably due to the numerous short sandy sections, a number of brief ups and downs, the multitude of very tight turns, and lots of narrow passages between trees, often only a few inches wider than your handlebars -- all of which added to the enjoyment of the outing. Here's Ellen heading back up after a downhill in the Canal Diggings section...




... and another uphill later...





As is obvious, the scenery is drop-dead gorgeous and despite it being Saturday, we had the place nearly to ourselves (perhaps due to the bike race just a few miles east on the trail.) A loud rustling we heard was this armadillo that scampered (he thinks) out of sight off the trail, though only his head is in the hole...





The Land Bridge -- so-named because it has land atop it to allow bike riders, hikers on the Florida Trail, equestrians, and wildlife to safely cross I-75 -- is seen here from the interstate. Notice the trees and bushes in place of traffic on top...




...and here's a look down from the bridge onto the expressway...




The Cross Florida Greenway Trail is named for conservationist Marjorie Harris Carr, Florida's first female wildlife technician, whose efforts led to creation Of Paynes Prairie Preserve and whose lengthy battle stopped the construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, a mammoth, multi-million dollar project to traverse central Florida that threatened the area's ecosystem.

For trailhead info and maps, see here.