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Flatwoods park |
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Flatwoods park |
| Flatwoods park | |
Location: |
Florida |
Nearest Town: |
Tampa |
Directions to Trailhead: |
I75 North to Fletcher Rd exit. Make left at stop sign and go strait for about 5 miles. Entrance to state park on left. Sign is recessed back so look for orange street sign. |
Trail Description: |
Flat , fast singlerack with roots and a mix of hardpack and some sand. Trail connects to two other parks through Florida pine and palmetto hammock. Lots of wildlife. Main trail surrounded by 7 mile paved loop for roadies, skaters and walker/joggers. |
Trail Length: |
miles 5-30 |
Trail Type: |
Singletrack & Fire Roads |
Skill Level: |
Beginner |
Submitted By: |
Trek-kie |
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Trail Ridden: Please Select |
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Recommended Route: Getting there from Tampa: Take I-4E to I-75N to Fletcher Exit (or I-275N to Fletcher Exit). Go east on Fletcher, watch speed in 45 MPH zone, go about 1 mile past Wilderness Creek. Look for small road sign for Flatwoods Park and turn left into park.
Other recommended trails in the same area: |
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Although Flatwoods has dirt trails for jogging/biking, I'm a roller blader, so I stick to the paved loop used by bladers and bikers. First parking area on right has rest rooms, air, soda machines, trail maps and outdoor shower. The flat paved loop is seven miles. It's the width of a single car lane with traffic moving counter clockwise. There is minimal debris, occasional critters, and it's partly shaded. Park rangers drive the only vehicles allowed on the road and their services are much appreciated. Four rest stations with ice water are strategically positioned around the loop. Best time to go is in the cool of the evening. Park closes at dark. Bring sunsceen and bug spray. For social fun, check out the full moon skate. |
Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a month |
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Recommended Route: The main trail from Trout Creek and/or Morris Bridge Rd. make good starting points.
Other recommended trails in the same area: |
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The area is large enough to offer some variety in terrain, including paved roads, gravel, sand, mud and during the raing season, hub-deep water in some areas. The plant and animal life make this area particularly interesting; excluding the Florda Panther and Black Bear, if it lives in Florida, its probably living here. Unfortunately, that does include mosquitoes (bring bug spray!) as well. Overall, this is a pretty good area to ride, with quite a few trails and convenient access and rest areas. NOTE-You can get trail maps of this area at this website: http://home1.gte.net/hoak/wta/map.htm |
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Trail Ridden: Once a month |
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Recommended Route: I-75 to Fletcher East – take first left into Park. Drive to end of road and park – there is a ‘bike shower’ and restrooms there.
Other recommended trails in the same area: |
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Trout Creek: I always park here because of the shower. Leave the parking lot of Trout Creek and head back down the road a couple hundred feet on left is a wooden fence entry to Trout Creek trails. Trails wind around two lakes then follow trail down power lines to Coconut Grove which will test your balance. End back on the paved road just before the bridge at park entrance. Cross the bridge and (carefully) cross Fletcher to Morris Bridge Park. Morris Bridge: Cross next parking area through wooden fences – enter onto main trail which is a gradual downhill. At the bottom is a kiosk map. Go right and follow along sandy ditch to “Gator Bait” which is a rooty, bouncy trail. Follow Gator to the end where it makes sharp left (sometimes there are tangerines on the trees). The trail now heads back towards Main trail – follow till you see a trail to the right named “Indian”. This is another fast rooty trail with much less SAND than Main trail. Follow Indian all the way to the power lines. If you go right it dead-ends at a swamp, go left. Take the first faint trail to the right – a very rooty trail that heads through a cypress swamp (don’t fall or suffer being stabbed by cypress roots –trust me, its cool). Follow this trail till it opens up and joins main trail, all heading to a single trail that connects Morris Bridge and Flatwoods. The joining trail will end at another parking area and boat dock – take wooden walkway UNDER Fletcher road to the restrooms/boat launch and rest. After resting ride up to Fletcher road and ride OVER the river bridge (the only way to cross the river). Immediately after crossing the river step over the guardrail on the left side of the road and ride down the trail to river’s edge. Take either trail to the right into the woods and end up on a long straight away the runs parallel to Fletcher. Take the first trail to left “Expressway” and wind through the woods to Flatwoods Park. You’ll pop out behind a picnic shelter in sight of the paved loop entrance. Flatwoods: Main trail surrounded by 7 mile paved loop for roadies, skaters and walker/joggers with ice water coolers. Picture the park as a clock face, paved entrance at 6 o’clock. Start on paved road to mtn bike trail entrance at marker #25. (About 5 o’clock). This trail will endlessly snake through the main part Flatwoods. I think its broken into five sections by fire roads. Palmetto, pine and scrub, lots of roots and sand with switchbacks. Personally I don’t like the ride but it adds miles. You will end up around the 10 o’clock position of the clock face. Turn left and cross over pavement to continue trail (or ride on pavement) At about 9 o’clock point on the right side of paved circle is a trail leading straight out. This sandy trail is about 1 mile long. Halfway down is ‘Panther’ witch circles an open marsh and rejoins paved loop at 12 o’clock position. If you go straight instead of taking Panther, you will crosses an aluminum bridge and head right up to the flood control levees – ride up onto the levee and follow the dirt road to the left – it crosses through gates and flood control dam over the river again and then ends up at the Trout Creek parking lot where you started. Shower off your bike and self and drive home happy. Total loop is about 16 miles. |
Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a year |
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Recommended Route: Visit www.kmaracing.com
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Trail Ridden: Ridden Once |
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Recommended Route: Started around the paved road and picked up the off-road portion at marker 32 to cut through the middle of the park.
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Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a week |
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Recommended Route: Start the trail at marker #25. (That's just off the paved road.) This will snake you through the main part of the park. You'll see a "sea" of palmetto and oak trees. The setting is great for speedwork. Very nice.
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Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Every few months |
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Recommended Route:
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I don't know what XCman (review down below) is talking about. I can't even imagine my grandmother getting an endo at flatwoods... |
Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a month |
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Recommended Route: Take Bruce B Downs north from Bearss Ave. You see it on the right side right around the massive construction tailored specifically towards rich Tampa Palms residents.
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XCman down below is a lying sack. |
Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a month |
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Recommended Route: 1-75 to Fletcher Exit. . . East a mile or two to the Flatwoods Park entrance.
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Really this is three (or six, depending if you count the "boat ramp" parks also) very different parks recently connected by a well marked main trail loop. Lots of diversity here, and not much sugar sand. (as some have complained about in FL trails.) Mostly all single-track, there's flat, fast sections (try the Flatwoods internal trail), and awful (=awesome!) rooty drops & switchbacks to challenge you as you like. And that's really the heart of the Morris Bridge System. . .it's exactly what you make of it. there's no big drops, climbs, or DH, but great tech workouts. A newbie can enjoy most of the trails if he/she takes it slow; and a pro can be taken to the mat easy without pushing real hard. Some of the tougher trails here (Misery, Gator Bait) are slow go or you eat a cypress knee. Try racing Coconut Trail on the Trout Creek section if your knees love riding over a landlocked logjam of palmetto trunks. It can be a real blast, but eat your wheaties if you plan on doing the full loop at a good pace. ice cold water stations and restrooms available at the Flatwoods park. Get there at sunrise and count how many deer you see. We counted ten last ride. Mostly hard-pack and roots. The only sugar sand is in sporadic places, and only for maybe a few feet or yards at a time. The WTA does a fantastic job of maintaining these trails, and has put down wood chips on most of the sand, and restored traction to some of the sandier sections. Most of these trails are fully shaded. Helmets are required on all of the trails. On the weekends, Park Rangers monitor ch.1 of those personal 2-way radios, so bring 'em if you got 'em. Like I said, these trails can be as great as you are a rider, so get out there and ride 'em yourself, you won't regret it. |
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Trail Ridden: Once a week |
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Recommended Route: good directions at top
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Oh and by the way XC Man is a lying piece of crap,from what he wrote you can tell he is a lying shmuck |
Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a week |
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Recommended Route: As stated by Trekkie - By the main parking area you can also cover the trail from Morris Bridge Rd. and out to the water (markers 20-24), then double back and hit the Eubank Pkwy trail over to the main loop (25)entrance.
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I have only been riding a few months, still a beginner, and I find the Flatwoods a little more fun for a planned ride than Morris Bridge. It is one continuous trail instead of numerous outlets. I rode it this Sunday and you can spend 30 to 50 minutes depending on your speed. The sand here is hard enough to hit cruising speed on some parts and the roots and switchbacks will keep you alert. Part of the park burned over the summer so you might feel like you are in the Enchanted forest or the Blair Witch project. There are a lot of armadillos and deer, right in the trail sometimes. There are a few fireroads that you can bail out on to the asphalt loop. As Trekkie said, experts need not apply, but if you are a beginner you can use this to develop your skills. Morris Bridge has more sugar sand and ups and downs to challenge your technique. Put the Wilderness Parks together and you have a nice ride that will last a couple of hours and more than a few miles. |
Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a week |
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Recommended Route: park off bruce b. downs, past home depot on the right. hit pavement for a nice 20 minute or so quick sprint hammer. trails start after information board after other parking lot. drop in to your left and just hang on folks!
Other recommended trails in the same area: |
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Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a week |
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Recommended Route: see below
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Overall Rating:
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Trail Ridden: Once a week |
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Recommended Route: Start at south end of paved loop and go right(one way loop). Look for trail marker 21 about an 1/8 of a mile on the left. Take all connecting trails through 41 and come out on pavement. Go right to main loop and stay to the right back to start. A little further up on right ,where you came in, is the 1800 trail. This will take you to Morris bridge where there are more trails.
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