Nature Coast Trail

Saturday morning in north central Florida was full of surprises starting with a record-breaking low temperature that approached the teens. Gary and I agreed when we met up at the Trenton trailhead that our sanity was in question, but we had planned to be there and it was a beautiful day, so we visited the Foodway for some breakfast and allowed the morning to warm up slightly, since it was still in the thirties.

It was now ride time, though there were no other attendees. At least sunscreen was easily conserved today as precious little remained exposed after suiting up. The forecast of a high in the mid 60s encouraged us to proceed and it was just above 40 as we started out. None of this discouraged the bird population, especially robins, they were everywhere and quite busy it seemed.

As we were about to cross the Suwannee River, a walker and his leashed dog were coming the other way and the dog was carrying a large, slingshot shaped piece of wood in his mouth. As a friendly greeting I smiled and asked, "You got him collecting firewood for you?"

The walker, without hesitation, simply replied, "He whittles!" and kept on walking.

The river was quiet and smooth, as free of traffic as the trail had been, but on the other side there was a veritable parade of motorcycles descending into Old Town where we, too, stopped for a break.

Starting at the Old Town trailhead, we saw two other riders braving the morning. Instead of continuing on to Cross City, we decided to double back and turn south to Fanning Springs to visit the wayside park at the river there and were surprised to find a new park. Fort Fanning Historical Park is on the north side of US 19 right at the river's edge and, we were later told, will be the home of a reconstructed Fort Fanning. It has nice, brick-lined sidewalks with landscaping and benches and a lovely view of the river.
We followed the sidewalk back to the east and discovered a hidden corridor beneath huge old oaks that goes all the way back to the rail trail where there are future plans to add a restroom facility. Photos are posted in the gallery.

On the way back to Trenton, we did encounter a couple more riders and finally saw the temperature above 60. An additional surprise was finding a freshly smashed glass bottle on the asphalt, but Gary's trusty pan and brush made short work of the unusual blemish.

Looking forward to the Hawthorne Trail for next Saturday. Yall Come!

Trail Condition: Excellent
Facilities: Excellent
O\vo~