Suburban Parks: Jacksonville Baldwin Rail Trail

[Metro Jacksonville]

Suburban Parks: Jacksonville Baldwin Rail Trail



The Jacksonville Baldwin Rail Trail is a 14.5 mile recreational multi-use path and linear park stretching from Baldwin to Imeson Road in West Jacksonville.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-dec-suburban-parks-jacksonville-baldwin-rail-trail

[BridgeTroll]

Great article on a underutilized treasure...

BTW... the "gun club" is WW Sporting Clays...  very difficult... very fun!

http://www.wwsportingclays.com/index.htm

[thelakelander]

Now we just have to get it connected with the rest of the city by building a usable citywide bike facility network.

[Lunican]

This is a great trail to ride on, but the biggest drawback is that you have to drive to get to it.

[BridgeTroll]

Agreed... what would be a logical connector?

[hightowerlover]

monster trucks

[thelakelander]

Agreed... what would be a logical connector?

Bike lanes are being built on McDuff and West 5th, to Melson.  If the path can be extended to W 5th, some sort of way, add a little path or multi-use trail parallel to McCoys Creek and you could tie it into the riverwalk, via Forest St.

[heights unknown]

Wow!  Never knew this existed.  Rail to Trail...when I move back to Jax I will work it.  14.5 miles, I know I'll be out of breath and almost 30 miles round trip; boy, that would be a good work out!  Now what neighborhood will I move to when I move back to Jax...one thing's for certain, it won't be any southside neighborhoods; Springfield, Riverside, or Westside maybe. A little while yet to think about all of this.

"HU"

[TPC]

The Baldwin Trail is a great ride. Once you get past the first few miles of stop signs and cross roads it becomes very enjoyable. It also has mile markers to help you keep track of your distance and 2 rest stops.

[jason_contentdg]

Great shade along the majority of the path.  My wife and I have biked it a few times, the first time on beach cruisers. My legs have almost recovered.

[north miami]

Wow!  Never knew this existed.  Rail to Trail...when I move back to Jax I will work it.  14.5 miles, I know I'll be out of breath and almost 30 miles round trip; boy, that would be a good work out!  Now what neighborhood will I move to when I move back to Jax...one thing's for certain, it won't be any southside neighborhoods; Springfield, Riverside, or Westside maybe. A little while yet to think about all of this.

"HU"

Yes indeed, many hard won public recreation areas in place,yet often obscure to many.

See also nearby Jennings State Forest,Cary State Forest and Four Rivers State Forest. 
Branch out a little to Osceola National Forest.Outstanding easy off road fat tire cycling on the hard packed dirt roads.Excellent ride is to circle Ocean Pond (which is huge) and take a dip at one of the sandy beaches.Great camp sites at Ocean Pond.
Head south to the Suwannee River recreation hubs/

[sandyshoes]

Very beautiful...but also very secluded.  How's the crime report?

[Ocklawaha]

At Baldwin Florida, Amtrak's Sunset Limited bears testimony that the tracks are not gone if you know where to look! (But the Sunset is, victim of Katrina, and Republican horse play in Tallahassee)

I dunno Heights, there is a plan for a similar trail to follow Pottsburg Creek from Arlington all the way to a Julington Creek connection, where it will contine to Mandarin. It will be a beautiful ride but I don't know what the status is.

There is a lot of confusion over the Baldwin-Jacksonville rail trail, every time MJ, JT or JTA mentions rail service to Baldwin, we get the "It's a trail, there are no tracks..." line. Actually there once were TWO railroads to Baldwin, the Rail-Trail is the former CSX nee, Seaboard Coast Line nee, Atlantic Coast Line nee, Jacksonville Southwestern. It was built to serve the sawmills on the north side of Jacksonville and connect them with High Springs. The old ACL used it for nearly a century as the "West Coast Mainline," and many of their famous passenger trains used that line. From Jacksonville Terminal, northwest through Moncrief Yard, then turning westward on the West Coast Main at Grand Crossing, those trains FLEW through north Baldwin, then turned south for Lake Butler, Burnett's Lake, Gainesville, Ocala, Leesburg, Trilby, and St. Petersburg. While it was REALLY "S" shaped, it was never part of or called the "S" line.

The current line, and the one that will be used by Amtrak, and owned by CSX, runs straight west from Jacksonville Terminal, through Marietta, White House, Baldwin... From Baldwin West to Los Angeles, South to Lakeland (Tampa), or North to Callahan and beyond. This nearly arrow straight route alongside Beaver Street is very much alive and well.  


OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Very beautiful...but also very secluded.  How's the crime report?

Really good actually, Grannie Crime's dog had 5 puppys the other day. Daddy Crime has spent the weekend fishing, while Bubba and Earnest Crime have been busy down at the still. Yeee Hawww

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

"The ROW is flat and passes through rural areas with abundant plant life, wildlife and trees."

Well, relatively flat.  There are some up and down grades that you definitely feel when biking the 30 mile round trip! 

When I last rode it several years ago, I don't recall having seen any signs for Camp Milton.  Are there signs on the trail today pointing the way?  If not, a missed opportunity that needs to be corrected.

This trail is a great asset to Jax and is known nationwide to trail lovers.  We need a few hundred miles more of these throughout the City.  They could be transformational to our way of life if we pulled it off.  Imagine commuting around town on scenic bikeways, immune from traffic hazards.  Great exercise and less auto traffic.  Another example of City leaders lacking vision.