Everglades

[lconley]

I haven't been riding a whole lot since I moved to south Florida as the roads are kind of crowded with people that don't pay a lot of attention to what they are doing. Most of my riding had been on the El Rio Trail commuting to work. So I did some research. I live in Delray Beach, which is the "thinnest" part of the populated part of south Florida. The beach is four miles due east and the Everglades starts seven miles due west. Three miles north of that is the Arthur R Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. It turns out that there is a path on top of the dike at the edge of the Everglades. I have a Lifetime Senior Pass for National Parks, etc., so yesterday I decided to to put my Mystery Bike in the back of the Element to go see what I could see.

I guess this qualifies as gravel. No cars other than one park truck, just a few pedestrians, occasional kitted-out bikers on a carbon fiber gravel bikes, a few people on Walmart mountain bikes, the occasional small boat in the canal, and an airplane doing acrobatics over head. Zero elevation change. Not a lot of change in the view, but very quiet when the airplane wasn't around - low stress riding. Didn't see any alligators, but they are out there. I will be back for longer rides (with a water bottle). This trail goes north and south for many miles - I think it is 40+ miles in total.

The single speed Mystery bike on 29x2 Big Bens is about perfect for this. I do need to transfer some Ergon grips onto it from another bike. The Rustines grips just don't cut it.

Laing

Delray Beach FL

[John Bokman]

Great shots Laing!

[frank_a]

Laing,

 I'm in SW Broward about 10 miles east of the Everglades and have been riding the levees out there for nearly thirty years.  You can ride as long as you like as some of them connect to Dade co. to the south and Palm Bch Co. to the North. Some of them can be ridden as a loop, some are just out and back but it's always a good time. Some have more wildlife , alligators, foxes, water fowl, etc. Every now and then you will get a treat and see otters playing around.

 Until a few years ago you could pretty much have the place to yourself but the "Gravel" scene has brought more people out there. The South Florida Water Management Div. has maps with all of the levees on it and there are also arial views online that give you a good idea of whats out there.

  My wife and I get up to Delray a few times a month to visit the Wetlands Parks but I haven't been to the refuge you mention, I'll have to check it out.

The pic below is from 2008,  west of U.S. 27 off Griffin Road (Holiday Park).

  - Frank

[Andrew Wentzell]

Hi Laing,

Hey, that's my backyard. :)

I'm just a bit north of you, and I ride this trail pretty frequently. There are a few other entrances (for bikes and hikers) other than the refuge headquarters - north of it, there's a gate that connects you to a dirt road in the southern reaches of Wellington. If you head south, there's the Loxahatchee boat ramp (and more, I think the levee trails will take you all the way down into Miami/Homestead). You can also loop all the way around the refuge, for a total of about 75 miles.

The alligators are mostly dormant right now with the cooler weather, but I think you'll start seeing them more soon. There are deer out here, too, usually in the morning foraging in pairs. I realize deer aren't noteworthy in the rest of the country, but I had never seen a single one down here at all until I started riding on these type of trails, and now I see them about once a month on my rides. Sometimes when they see me, they run off in the direction the trail, and I try to keep up.

Our scenery definitely doesn't have the visual impact of, say, the Rockies, but one thing to appreciate about the Everglades is that it's a totally unique ecosystem, and so much of it has been destroyed. Riding here, just a few minutes from modern developed suburbia, you can still get a little glimpse into what Florida used to be. Plus, like you mentioned, it's much lower-stress than the road riding we have.

There are other trails like this you can visit in the area. I've found the heat maps from Ride with GPS and Strava (https://ridewithgps.com/heatmap and https://ridewithgps.com/heatmap, respectively) really helpful to see what's accessible to bikes, and what connects to what, based on where other people are riding.

- Andrew

[lconley]

Frank and Andrew, thank for the additional information.

Laing

[Brent Knepper]

That looks so fun Laing, I'm adding that canal edge to my list of bike spots in the everglades if I ever get back there with a bike.

one of my favorite lost distance bike ride memories was a 2 week tour from Miami>chokoloskee island>marco island, then ferry down to key west and back up to Miami via Rt 1. lotsa lotsa dry gravel/sand canal paths and roads in the winter to break up the pedaling on 41 and rt 1. Would love to see where else you find to ride!