Big Shoals Public Lands biking

We were disappointed that the heavy rains yesterday prohibited our return to the Ocala Mountain Bike Trails, but today we managed to get in 11 miles (95 minutes) on the trails in Big Shoals outside of White Springs, Florida. First we warmed up on the 3.4 mile paved trail, a lovely ride through the pine forest.


Then we ventured out onto the old (closed) forest roads, some of which still had water from the rains of the last 2 days. The section of forest to the right have been ravaged by the southern pine beetle, and timber operations to remove the infected trees has made the area extraordinarily unattractive, but the proceeds from the sales will be used to restore the areas.


Then we got onto the Palmetto Trail which is open to biking and which travels alongside the Suwannee River for 1.5 miles of twisty, turning up-and-down trail -- a great ride!


At Big Shoals Rapids, we had to turn around as no bikes are allowed on the hiking trail, and the bike trail is closed there due to logging, but returning on this fun segment was absolutely no problem. The rapids were really roiling from the recent rains as seen below.


Big Shoals website