Nature Coast Trail

A spring ride on the Nature Coast Trail is almost guaranteed to be filled with wildflowers, and today’s ride gave us a good taste of the early bloom of phlox as we rolled from Trenton to Chiefland.

Back in more familiar territory, we had five in the group today, Bruce, Deanne, Sandra, Mark and I, and nobody was in a hurry. It was a relaxing day of riding with temperatures in the low 80s and intense sunshine. We again proved that mouths in motion tend to make the miles go quickly.

Along the way we took a side trip to Fort Fanning Park, on the banks of the Suwannee River in Fanning Springs. It’s a pretty place, and the short brick-lined connector trail is going to make a nice addition to the Nature Coast Trail, as well as providing a convenient connector to the public restrooms in the roadside park just across U.S. 19.

The trailside in Chiefland seemed to offer the most phlox per mile, and we were surprised to see a fair number of trail users out on a weekday. We also enjoyed a good laugh after seeing one northbound couple, the guy on a road bike looking as if he were staring death in the face and his wife following on a ‘bent and wearing a big grin. We figured his bike seat was talking to him, and his butt was hearing it loud and clear.

In Chiefland we got a pleasant surprise – the public restroom (yes, singular) at the south trailhead was actually open. We visited the nearby chamber of commerce office to register our approval of this fact and put in our plea that it would be nice to see the same on the weekend.

On the return trip we enjoyed a barbecue feast at Huckleberry’s and got a kick out of the ad on the bulletin board selling a “queen side’s bed.” The final 10 miles passed quickly and Deanne hit a milestone, her first 100 mile week.
- Gary Kirkland
Photos are posted in the gallery.

Trail Condition: Beautiful, very clean
Facilities: Satisfactory
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