Pinellas Trail - where's a good place to park your car? (Tampa: home, neighborhood)

[Howard Roark]

I just found out about the Pinellas trail and am looking forward to taking my road bike out on it when I get to Tampa.

Where's a good starting point? I found a link to the trail system and it's about 37 miles one way. I figure I'm good for 20 miles round trip for starters until I get my bike legs back. Used to do 40 miles every other day on the Scottsdale greenbelt trail in the Phoenix area...

[tamparesident26]

Hi

I ride that trail often...it's quite a ways from Tampa though, depending on where you live. I usually start in Tarpon Springs, which is the closest starting point from me. I believe it starts right there, actually. There is a free, municipal parking lot right there by the Sponge Docks...the neighborhood is not that great, but I've parked there oodles of times and have never had an issue. It's a very cycle friendly little spot...quite a few bike shops there and if you aren't sure where to go, they are VERY helpful and will guide you to where you want to be. There are some parts of the Pinellas Trail that run through urban areas, so there's a lot of stopping and going etc. There are also some parts where the road is kind of rough, especially if you have a road bike. Facilities are not that easy to find either...there might be some further down in parts I haven't been to, but there aren't water jugs every few miles like there are on some of the other trails in the area. I do like that trail nonetheless though, and it's kind of a cycling "must" around here.

Right in Tampa, there are 2 excellent trails. Flatwoods (which is close to I-75) is very nice although a little boring (at least to me) because as the name implies...it's flat and there' s not much variety in your scenery. I believe it's 7 miles with an extra loop of 2 miles (so 9 miles) each way. That one is pretty good on having water available etc. (It gets HOT here, my friend...water is very important to have access to out there!) It runs from the Morris Bridge area over into New Tampa. If I recall from the other thread I think you mentioned that's where you were going to be relocating to? If so, then it would be "right there" for you as there's an entrance right on Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

There is also the Upper Tampa Bay Trail which is GORGEOUS...you can tell the county spend some time and money building that. I ride that one a couple of times a week...it has some little hills (a rarity in FL) and a wooden topped bridge that gives it a nice, remote feel to it in some areas (even though it's in a very busy part of town) The scenery there is better than at Flatwoods. The only complaint I have about that trail is that it's way too short. I think it's 8 miles one way but it feels like it goes really quick. There are plans to extend it quite a bit to connect to another trail in the area, but it might be a few years before they finish that. There are great facilities on this trail...bathrooms, water, etc. Always a park ranger around keeping the jugs filled. This is my second favorite trail here and not too far out there...there are a couple of places you can catch it. It's a great trail to ride if you want to stay close to home and want an alternative to Flatwoods. (It's also never as crowded as Flatwoods is, which almost always has a lot of people on it, even during the day in the middle of the week.)

There is also the Suncoast Trail, which starts in Lutz and runs about 41 miles north into Hernando County. (That is the trail which they plan to connect to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail) That trail is always busy and though I like the length, it runs along the Suncoast Parkway in many areas and it's noisier than others. Facilities are meh...I've ridden it lots of times and found empty water jugs a lot. I can't remember seeing a restroom anywhere except for Port-a-Potties at SR 54. (There might be some further north...I've only personally ridden it from Lutz to SR 52. It's great for the length if you really want to ride a long stretch uninterrupted, but the whole next to the highway thing is a little blah if you ask me.

But the absolute best trail in the Tampa Bay area is hands down, Jay B Starkey Wilderness Park. It's in New Port Richey, about 24 miles from where I live in Tampa (Temple Terrace area) It would be around the same distance as most points in the Pinellas Trail from New Tampa. It is an absolutely beautiful bike trail...just rode it on Saturday and try to do so as much as I can. I don't even mind driving out to it...it's totally worth it. It's 6.5 miles each way, but it connects to the Suncoast Trail that I mentioned above, so if you ride it and then the Suncoast in either direction and back, you can easily do 20-25 miles there. I simply cannot say enough good things about the Starkey Trail...it feels very "out there" in the wilderness and is quiet, which I love. It is also flat, but not at all boring like Flatwoods is. You frequently see lots of birds, gopher tortoises, deer, turkeys, owls, etc. There's a variety of trees as well so it doesn't all look the same as you are riding along. There are lots of shaded picnic benches to rest on and there is always water in the water jug boxes...I've never come up on an empty one there. It's also not usually very crowded...I've ridden it lots of times where I've seen hardly anyone else there. (The park surrounding the trail is also very nice by the way) There's also a spot where the trail narrows and you ride by a little stream of sorts where there is a canopy of trees...it's like a little oasis. Very cool. Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out and is relatively easy to get to from Tampa, just a quick shot up SR 54 and it's right there off Starkey Blvd.

There is a site where you find more info here (and there are also maps that you can see of each of the trails I mentioned above) You can also Google each of the trails and see a detailed map that shows you how to get to them, etc.

Greenways and Trails | Florida DEP

[Howard Roark]

Wow Thank you TampaResident! Thank you for the link. And the Jay B Starkey Wilderness trail sounds great. I could do the Flatwoods rail on weekday mornings (with a good lamp if I'm way early) and do the Jay B Starkey Wilderness or the Pinellas trail on weekends. This is a wealth of information!

[tamparesident26]

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

Wow Thank you TampaResident! Thank you for the link. And the Jay B Starkey Wilderness trail sounds great. I could do the Flatwoods rail on weekday mornings (with a good lamp if I'm way early) and do the Jay B Starkey Wilderness or the Pinellas trail on weekends. This is a wealth of information!

You're very welcome! That's pretty much how I do it - Flatwoods or Upper Tampa Bay during the week and then Starkey on the weekends. I do the Pinellas trail around once a month on the weekends. Tarpon Springs has some great Greek restaurants, so I usually check those out when I go too.

[Sunscape]

Some of the restaurants in Tarpon are excellent!

[Wwanderer]

There is also plenty of public parking in down Dunedin, through which the Pinellas passes.