Cycling down to St Mark’s Lighthouse

Last weekend I decided to try out a new cycling route since I’m not finding the St Mark’s rail trail as novel as I once did. Now don’t get me wrong: I do enjoy the route quite a bit, especially since it makes for a great way to get away from some of the less friendly roads of Tallahassee. So my plan was to take the rail trail down to the BIg Bend Scenic Highway before jumping off and finding my way to the St Marks Wildness Reserve. My goal for this trip was to get all the way to the St Mark’s Lighthouse (~7 miles inside the park)  before heading back.

Since I hadn’t looked up anything about the park, the roads in and around the area, or even what the lighthouse looked like, I wasn’t entirely sure that this trip would work out as I imagined. Nevertheless, fate worked well for me this time around and the roads leading to the park were great ( the scenic highway has a great shoulder, in particular) and the roads in the park were ideal for touring around. In short the trip went swimmingly and I logged 52 miles that day. Needless to say, I was exhausted!

All of this took place last week and since then I’ve been exploring Tallahassee via bike for the first time since moving down here. In particular I’ve been focusing on the route between FSU and my house since I really want to bike regularly to work instead of driving in. By the time this past weekend came up I was ready for another long trip.

Since moderation has never been a word I’ve embraced when it comes to physical activity, it goes without saying that this would be a long ride indeed. This time around I figured I should ride from my house through the city and down to the rail trail, a route I hadn’t seen much of and figured that I really should checkout since it goes right past FSU. From there I wasn’t entirely sure where I would go but would decide as options arose.

After biking the 12 miles to the St Mark’s trail head in Tallahassee, I just kept going and followed the rail trail all the way to the Big Bend Scenic Highway. When I got there I felt great and decided to continue onwards to the wildlife reserve. Needless to say I ended up at the lighthouse once again, but this time with more than 20 miles further to go than last time. This time I had also made excellent time coming down, but I suppose it would have been strategic to save my strength for the way back.

Well it was a beautiful day and the park was just as ideal as I had remembered from the week before.

There was a bit of a head wind on the way back, but that seems to be pretty normal around here once the afternoon comes around. All toll it was a 75 mile adventure and certainly one I would recommend to those who are into things like this. Just about any portion of this trip would also serve as a great ride whether it’s the ride through the park, the rail trail or even the portion through Tallahassee. None of them were painful at all and were generally quite scenic and interesting.