mature longleaf pines, increasingly rare.
The native habitat in which they flourish
is hilly, sandy and rich in native grasses,
wildflowers and rare animals. By moving
slowly, we sought glimpses of a Sherman’s
fox squirrel, a tree climber about twice
the size of an average gray squirrel and
with a black and white face that resembles
that of a rhesus monkey. We also looked
for larger pines with white bands. The
bands mark cavity trees occupied by the
endangered red-cockaded woodpecker,
the only native woodpecker that drills a
cavity in a living tree. The Apalachicola
National Forest boasts the largest concen-
tration of these birds in the world, and
breeding populations are exported from
the forest to help repopulate other pro-
tected lands. Since the woodpeckers are
small, about 7 inches long, we yearned
for a good pair of binoculars to spot one.
To explore the Apalachicola National
Forest’s longleaf forests in depth, you
can access the Munson Hills Off-Road
Bike Trail from the main St. Marks Trail
trailhead. This is a scenic and challenging
course that moves up and down ancient
sand dunes now transformed into forest-
ed sand hills. Hard-packed clay has been
placed on the trail so bicyclists will not
become bogged down in loose sand dur-
ing dry periods. This trail has expanded
to include the Twilight Loop for a total
of 21 miles through the national forest.
The St. Marks Trail also features a parallel
unpaved equestrian trail.
The first section of the St. Marks
Trail closely parallels State Road 363,
making for traffic noise. The noise fades
away around mile 2, where the trail
veers west to skirt the small hamlet of
Woodville. We stopped at the J. Lewis
Hall Sr. park, welcoming its restrooms
and water. We weren’t hungry for lunch
yet, but a seafood restaurant, sandwich
shop and Chinese restaurant are available
in Woodville, along with several conve-
nience stores and a grocery store. It’s hard
to go hungry on the St. Marks Trail.
As we headed south past Woodville,
the trail became rural and canopied with
lush hardwood trees. We paused beneath
Destination:
Florida
The St. Marks
Trail—a Florida First
STORY AND PHOTOS BY DOUG ALDERSON
Given its history, it seems only fitting
that the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic
Railroad State Trail—commonly called
the St. Marks Trail—is Florida’s first
paved rail-trail project. The 12-foot-wide
path begins just south of Tallahassee on
State Road 363 and ends at the charm-
ing coastal village of St. Marks, where
cyclists often have a meal and a beverage
before making the long climb back to
Tallahassee, gaining a nose-bleeding eleva-
tion of almost 30 feet in 16 miles.
The 16-mile St. Marks Trail is managed
by Florida’s Division of Recreation and
Parks and is part of the state park system,
which won National Gold Medal Awards
(the nation’s highest honors for state and
A
n average bicyclist could have moved faster than the first train
on the Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad. That’s because the
cotton-filled cars were drawn by mules in 1836. But soon a
locomotive was brought in, quickening the pace, and in 1865, during
the Civil War, the railroad transported Confederate troops to the Battle
of Natural Bridge, 6 miles east of the tracks. The trains ran until 1983,
making this the longest-running railroad in Florida.
local parks) in 1999, 2005 and 2013. An
additional 4.5 miles north of the main
trailhead at Capital Circle—Tallahassee’s
version of a beltway—connects to Florida
State University and is maintained by the
city of Tallahassee. The St. Marks is the
longest completed section of the planned
120-mile Capital City to the Sea Trails.
On a recent ride along the St. Marks
Trail with friend and co-worker Britney
Moore, I noted the distinct character
of each section of trail. The first few
miles skirt part of the 500,000-acre
Apalachicola National Forest. Pine trees
are the norm here, but not the more com-
mon pine trees grown in rows for paper
production. These are thick stands of
rails
to
trails
u
winter.16
27
destination
