Shared Use Trail, Fort Clinch State Park – Florida Hikes

Inside earshot of the park entrance street and by no means removed from it, the Shared Use Path at Fort Clinch State Park nonetheless hides properly.

Historical stay oaks and towering Southern magnolia make up a dense coastal hammock simply over the dunes from the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s a superbly shaded hike

Beginning and ending on the nook of the principle parking space for Fort Clinch itself, the loop is signposted counterclockwise for cyclists.

Optimized for using, it has hardened surfaces in low areas and on steep slopes, the place pavers present buy. Hikers can sort out it in both route.

Bike owner passing on an upslope

Central entry factors are restricted to the trailhead for the Willow Pond Trails and a pulloff at an outflow into Egans Creek.

Count on some critical elevation adjustments and preserve alert for mountain bikers. Regardless of the proximity to the ocean, mosquito repellent is a should.

A steep drop between forested dunes

Sources

Overview

Location: Fernandina BeachTrailhead: 30.703502, -81.452813Address: 2601 Atlantic Ave, Fernandina BeachFees: $4-6 per vehicleRestrooms: On the trailheadLand supervisor: Florida State ParksPhone: 904-277-7274

Open 8 AM to sundown. Leashed pets welcome however prohibited on seashores, boardwalks, and in buildings inside the park.

Instructions

Hike

Two massive brown indicators face the doorway street coming into the car parking zone for Fort Clinch. For a counterclockwise loop in the identical route as bicycle owner visitors, start on the suitable.

Observe a hardened floor of pavers right into a valley between historical dunes, the singletrack climbing to a ridge topped with stay oaks, descending right into a valley shaded by pines.

Begin of the loop

The ups and downs begin off light, the singletrack winding between the timber. An infinite stay oak heralds your arrival at a cease signal.

Use a crosswalk 1 / 4 mile in on the entrance street for Amelia River Campground and proceed into the woods.

Approaching the street crossing

Climb by means of deep shade, curving atop a ridge and previous a stay oak with a bulbous trunk that appears like an eagle’s head.

Descend by means of oaks and magnolias, crossing a slim causeway over a canal earlier than curving upward to a straightaway passing beneath a big stay oak.

Eagle oak

The park street swims into view because the understory thins, singletrack shimmying by means of curves beneath draperies of Spanish moss.

Cautioned by signage, a steep dip at a half mile is tempered by pavers for the sake of cyclists hurtling downhill.

Curving dip

Off-trail, a roadside bench gives a spot to duck off the trail for a sip of water. To your personal security, by no means cease in the course of a shared-use path.

A steeply banked curve grazes the street a tenth of a mile later because the singletrack drops right into a deep ditch and again out.

Roadside bench

Parting methods with the street by winding between magnolia and sparkleberry, enter a forest of youthful moss-laden oaks, approaching a cease signal.

On the trailhead for the Willow Pond Trails, proceed throughout the parking space to the far path entrance to renew. Attain a “Mile 2” marker precisely one mile into the hike.

Mile 2 marker

A murky pond separates this path from the character path on the base of this hill. Step by means of a portal fashioned by two sturdy oaks.

Move a dahoon holly with a trunk formed as if it have been crafted right into a path marker way back. Climbing up and over hills and round curves, undergo a steep dip at 1.2 miles.

Among the many massive timber

Rise onto a ridge with massive stay oaks and large magnolias. Oaks and cedars crowd when the trail attracts near the park street.

Cross a service street within the hammock at 1.4 miles close by of the park street resulting in Atlantic Seaside. Armadillos rustle beneath fallen leaves.

Service street

Veering away from the street once more, the path narrows, sharp curves grazing moss-covered rootballs of enormous stay oaks. The cover opens, letting gentle in from close by Egans Creek.

After extra climbs and descents, burrow by means of a tunnel of silk bay, respendent in streamers of Spanish moss. Crunch by means of a spill of magnolia leaves atop a rounded hill.

Curving path

Flattening, the path edges the marsh, solar streaming in. An overlook a number of paces off the path gives a panorama of the Egans Creek estuary at 1.8 miles.

Squeezed tightly between the marsh and the park street, the trail emerges at a clearing with a bench, a small trailhead the place a creek flows into the marsh at 2 miles.

Estuary view

Past the trailhead, the moist floor triggered an oak to tip its large rootball aboveground. Gravel causeways elevate the moist footpath barely over the marsh mud.

Climb out of the low basin up a really steep hill bolstered with pavers to succeed in a bench on the peak, which seems out throughout the marsh.

Steep climb to bench

The descent, at 2.2 miles, is equally steep. Curve out to a clearing on the fringe of the street, the place posts block drivers from parking, and again to a climb atop a low ridge.

Reaching a steep forested dune, the trail curves alongside its base, plunging right into a slim valley.

Grazing previous the park street

Rising to a curve providing a touch of daylight off the marsh, swing by means of a collection of tight curves and difficult climbs for the following half mile.

Stage out on mushy floor, with a number of marsh panoramas earlier than swinging east to cross the park street at 3 miles.

Leaving the marsh behind

The east aspect of the loop returns to Fort Clinch. Climb previous an enormous oak and round a horseshoe curve beneath towering Southern magnolias on the base of a steep embankment.

Squeezed near the park street by the sharp topography, the path weaves a languid line close by of up earlier than sharply ascending a dune ridge utilizing pavers.

Beneath towering magnolias

From a excessive level alongside this forested ridge, yards in a neighboring subdivision are seen. A steep descent drops the path to street stage.

Be a part of the sandy shoulder of the park street at 3.5 miles earlier than briefly returning to the plush forest.

Exiting to the park street

Compelled to the street once more by the dune entrance, stroll alongside the bottom of the dunes till the path leaves the street.

Ascend to the bottom of a forested ridge holding again the upper sand dunes behind it. Warning indicators level out the necessity to keep on the path to keep away from contributing to its erosion.

Dune entrance

At 4 miles, the descent into mucky floor is a shock, the path curving alongside the sting of a marsh hidden by palm fronds.

Roots jut from the earth on the base of the thick trunks of a number of massive magnolias. Ascend a ridge topped with extra massive timber.

Mucky space

Come out on the tannic creek flowing beneath the street, guided round it by a fence. Staying near the street, the pathway presents glimpses of the creek basin.

It was clearly dug out to channel the water way back. Previous an enormous cedar, a graveled causeway guides the path by means of a moist space.

Path across the channel

Climbing up a rooty slope onto a ridge, look down into the steep, deep channel of the creek, passing mounds of earth at 4.5 miles now topped with timber.

Buffered in opposition to erosion by pavers, a protracted descent from excessive floor results in one other climb and descent by means of a slim valley between dune ridges.

Steep paver climb

A roller-coaster of climbs and descents, some sharply graded and really scenic, result in the crosswalk at Atlantic Seaside Highway at 4.8 miles.

Descend quickly below arched oaks, reaching a cut up within the path in a low bowl of vegetation earlier than the following climb.

Lengthy dip on the best way to the crosswalk

Staying on the base of the dune ridge, the path grazes the sting of the park street then ascends steeply and drops in direction of it once more, passing a century-old pine.

Move the Mile 4 marker at 5 miles. Dropping by means of a swale, curve away from the park street and cross below an influence line. Climb atop the roots of an infinite stay oak.

Mile 4 marker

Ascend a ridge with a “Steep Dip Forward” signal. Many have been steeper, nevertheless it alerts a descent and one other steep climb dropping right into a pure bowl stuffed with bluestem palms.

After the following sharp dip and climb, attain a path junction at 5.2 miles. A bench marks the spot the place a path results in the street, dealing with the Willow Pond trailhead. Maintain proper to remain on the loop.

Dealing with the Willow Pond trailhead

Rising away from that junction, skirt a fenced-in archaeological interpretive website solely accessible from the street. Move by means of a putting little valley of palms, climbing and curving past.

Daylight gleams off white sand, the vanguard of the dune entrance pouring into the hammock on its march west.

Dune entrance

Staying on the base of the forested dune being engulfed, the path turns away from it in direction of the sun-splashed park street.

Towering pines dominate the cover briefly, the trail cushioned by deep pine duff. Return to the coastal hammock in time to succeed in a bench at 5.6 miles.

Ultimate bench

Curve and descend to street stage and again up the dune ridge, a tangle of marsh apparent in a swale.

Stroll between the trunks of a sand stay oak earlier than the following massive climb and drop to a quick causeway throughout a ditch, which the path parallels by means of a thicket of palms.

Ditch drop

Move the Mile 3 marker at 6 miles. Moist earth between the palms follows alongside the ultimate curve and drop.

The Shared Use Path emerges on the park street close by of the trailhead car parking zone. Cross the street and end this 6.2 mile loop by strolling previous the path entrance.

Finish of the loop

Path Map

Discover Extra!

Study extra about Fort Clinch State Park

Fort Clinch State Park With 1,100 acres of pristine seashores, towering dunes, maritime forest, and estuarine tidal marshes, Fort Clinch State Park is one in all Florida’s paramount leisure areas.

Video

Mountaineering the Shared Use Path

Slideshow

See our photographs from Shared Use Path

Close by Adventures

Path Map (PDF) Reserve Campsite Official Web site

Writer of 45 books, Sandra Buddy established FloridaHikes.com in 2006 to increase on the sector analysis she’d accomplished for her first six mountain climbing guides. She has been honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Florida Path Affiliation and the Florida Out of doors Writers Affiliation.

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