Wednesday, April 6, 2016

17 Miles Walk Along the Palatka to St. Augustine Rail to Trail

Dotted all over the country and even around the world old, abandoned railroad lines are being given new life as walking and biking trails. The Palatka-to-St. Augustine rail to trail is eight and half miles long and runs through the towns of Armstrong, Elkton and Vermont Heights in northeast Florida. On Sunday we took a round trip walk on the trail for a total of 17 miles. 

The Palatka-to-St. Augustine trail is open to foot traffic and bicycles but walkers were well out numbered by bikes. Even so the trail was well marked with one lane for bikes and the other for foot traffic. 


The First Few Miles

The first few miles of the trail runs along State Road 207. There was no shade! It made us glad we started early to beat the Florida heat. 


There were several interesting, abandoned buildings along the trail.




A few beautiful farms along the way. I wonder if they're glad the trains are gone?



Finally We Found the Shade!


Most of the trail ran through shady woodlands. This made for a pleasant walk.









Since we did a round trip walk we ended up back on the sunny part of the trail around noon. But at least there was a nice breeze so it wasn't so bad. 

It took us 5 hours and 23 minutes to walk 17 miles. That time doesn't include a few rest stops and lunch. 


This is about half the distance we'll be walking next month in New York when we do The Great Saunter.You can read about that here-The Great Saunter - A Slow 32 Mile Walk Around Manhattan Still need to do some training!

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