FL: Tallahassee - Goldmine Trails

 We had been in town for almost a week, it was now Saturday and more riders could join the fun. We'd be hitting the road back to Arizona the following morning, so I wanted this final ride in Tallahassee to be good. During one of the earlier rides, Matt suggested I come over to these social trails on the opposite side of Munson Hills. Nothing is really published about them, they remind me of some our our State Trust Land trails here in AZ. The locals refer to it as the Goldmine Loop or Trails. I was down for whatever.

We met behind a Marathon gas station. Then took off on a short bit of pavement.

Seven strong at the start.

The pace quickened as we entered the forest.

I was trying to keep the group in sight, mostly successful.

As they say: Keep Singletrack Single. The trails were narrow and fast!!

We were only crossing this dirt road, but would you attempt to ride through that?? Nah.

My one photo of proof that Mark and I rode together!! He wasn't feeling it and cut out early.

Slight detour to see this massive sinkhole. Photo doesn't do it justice, but you'd be in trouble if you went in.

Some random trail markers out there.

I'm certain you can see the humidity in this photo.

Mullet bike cairn!!

Really fun group to chase around: Myself, Matt, Chris H, Tom, Chris W. & Melvin - rocking the skinny tire bike!!

This loop was a hoot and really made you feel like you were out in the wilds.

More trail marker art.

Practically a jungle.

I really enjoyed this one, plus there's a few more trails in the area to explore.

Tom broke out his singlespeed too.

In fact, everyone was on a singlespeed except Melvin, but he had the skinny tires.

Caught this fella crossing the trail.

Chris W. coaxing him into the trees.

What a perfect way to wrap up the riding here. Five different areas, many of which you could link for bigger days. Great group of guys too, now they just need to head west for some spinning. The AZT and Queen's Ransom are calling... I'm sure it won't be the last time I ride there. 

Route:

FL: Tallahassee - Maclay Gardens State Park

 Believe it or not, I took a day off the bike while here. The guys were free for a Friday morning spin and I wanted to check out Maclay Gardens State Park on the north side of town. It's a trail system I hadn't been to yet and everybody knows, new-to-you dirt is some of the best dirt.

I met up with Chris at Epic Bike shop and we'd roll out from there.

A short social trail, then bikepath led us to this powerline connection. It was a fast rip mostly downhill, but watch out for those deep puddles!!

We met up with Tom as we entered the park.

Already, I was diggin' the vibe of these trails.

We were zigzagging all over the place. I had a feeling my gpx track was going to look like an Etch-a-Sketch. We routed to some obscure social trails, that reminded me of the K-Trail in Gold Canyon, but with dirt instead of rocks. Super cool. There was a good amount of up & down riding too. I was glad to have the undulations. These trails had more roots than the other stuff I had ridden so far, it demanded attention.

Chris frantically trying to keep his rear wheel afloat.

There was some fast 2-track as well.

We tracked down Vince who rode in from the other side of the park.

The park is quite large, lots of trails and 2-track to make a ton of different routes.

Vince showing off that beard of his.

Only a couple of down trees as I'm sure this is an ongoing occurance.

Tom rocking the full squish, which I'm sure was nice over all the roots.

Chris smashing a big singlespeed ratio, I couldn't keep up all day!!

It's Super-Vince!!

More ups, downs, twists and turns through here.

Nice rock armoring here as this was a tricky bit to get through, but I made it. It's more uphill than it looks.

Not sure if I'd filter out of that pond...looks kinda thick.

Fun ledge drop into a rock armored berm.

Helmet graveyard.

Always nice to see work stations installed at trail systems.

We wrapped up the ride and once again, over 1000' gained!! Impressive. We cracked open a couple of the Plinys I had brought along and the guys really appreciated it. These were some really fun trails with more of a technical aspect to them, which I really enjoyed. Nice to see a good bit of variation in trail styles here.

That would be one GIANT slice of pizza. Massive!!

Route:

FL: Tallahassee - Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway

 I had a couple of hours on Wednesday morning to get a ride in. I wanted to check out the path & trails off Miccosukee Rd, one of Tallahassee's famous canopy roads. I made it over to the west side trailhead with the goal of riding the greenway to the far east end and back, while also checking out some of the singletrack side quests Matt had told me about the day prior.

Lush pathway to get things going.

I was keeping my eyes peeled for any singletrack options peeling off into the trees. I wasn't sure if they'd be signed or not. I did find one promising looking trail off to my right almost right after starting.

After the first turn, I had a feeling I wasn't supposed to be here.

The deadfall looked a bit deliberate and the trail was fairly overgrown, so I turned around. Back to the pathway.

Passed by the Hickory Hill Cemetery with tombstones dating from 1919 to 1947.

A rare open section with long views!! And a bit of a downhill.

2-track section that rode like singletrack.

Fancy bridge crossing a dry creek. Believe it or not, the area is in a drought.

One of the signed singletrack offshoots.

The singletrack sections had more twists and turns than the main pathway.

Everything was generally fast riding.

They did a good job incorporating this type of erosion mitigation on dips. We may want to consider something of similar construction for notorious bad spots here in the desert.

Seven miles end-to-end. Time to flip it and make better time on the return!!

I noticed I had made it about halfway into the ride before feeling like I was covered in sweat!! Progress?? Dunno, but by the time I finished I was once again, soaked to the core.

There are a few canopy roads in the Tallahassee area, Miccosukee is one of the better ones.

Good info at the trailhead kiosk.

Classic shot down the canopy road.

One thing that really surprised me on this ride was the fact I gained over 1000' in elevation over 14.5 miles!! I keep telling people the trails here do have some ups & downs, just not like what we're used to out west, but it's enough to keep things fun. Thanks for the intel, Matt, I really enjoyed the ride and can see how it could be linked to other area trails for a longer outing.

Route: