Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail

After day hiking the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania over Easter, my wife & popped down to Jacksonville for an Endurance Karting Spina Bifida charity race at the awesome 103rd St. Sports Complex track.

I’ve raced with Endurance Karting in Jacksonville many times before, but it was the first time I’d been there since 2013: Because the race tends to fall on the weekend after Easter, our grandaughter has priority, and flying cross country from Phoenix two weeks in a row is a pain in the tutkis. It took me five years to realize my wife & I could fly from Phoenix, to Baltimore, to Jacksonville, then home. A three-leg journey would save us a day of travel time and, more importantly, two air fares.

One year, the Jacksonville race got red flagged, and another we raced on anyway. Which is really something when you realize we don’t have grooved rain tires. 😳

Oh, sure, the announcers on TV carry on about slicks, intermediates & wets, but you never realize how big a difference the grooved wheels on your every day driver make until you try racing in the rain on slicks. You turn the wheel, and the tires turn, but the kart keeps going straight. It can be very frustrating.

Normally, on a race weekend, we fly out on Thursday, practice on Friday afternoon, then qualify and race on Saturday. But because we arrived in Florida on Tuesday, we had some time to fill. Being Florida, touristing & avoiding car jacking were two obvious activities, as was hiking.

There was a video here, but YouTube deleted my account: I’m now on Vimeo.

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is, like the name suggests, a former railroad line converted to a trail for biking, hiking and even horseback riding. It is 12 ft. wide and extends 14.5 miles from just west of I-295 to just west of Baldwin, roughly paralleling I-10, which is two miles south. I was expecting it to be some hard-packed variation of dirt, gravel and sand — like other rail trails I’ve been on — but it is paved the whole way. It is easy to keep track of mileage, as there are marked poles every mile.

The trailheads at both ends have restrooms, plus there is one at Camp Milton just off the rail trail, at Baldwin Station, and a portapotty at the Halsema Rd. trailhead.

The east trailhead, where I started, is located on Imeson Rd. The moon had not quite set yet, so I took a photo off it between the berries on a tree. Unfortunately, several hundred thousand miles of depth-of-field was outwith my $150 camera’s capability.

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail crosses many roads, and passes by many semi-rural residential areas. (Large properties with ponds, barns, work sheds, etc.)

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is mostly used by bike riders, but horses and pedestrians are also allowed. I only encountered bike riders, and all were polite and non-aggressive. I wish could say the same for the loose dogs a half mile west of Jones Rd.

I was hoping to see some snakes & gators, but other than the aggressive dogs, the only critters I saw were some cattle.

The terrain certainly was conducive to snakes & gators: Flat, with many large ponds, and spotted regularly with low swampy areas. From Imeson Rd. 3.6 miles to Hannah Rd., was towering pines, with thick undergrowth, and a wide, grassy, shoulder sprinkled with flowers. After my lack of success flower hunting on the Black Canyon Trail two weeks ago, I was grateful for the extra color.

From Hannah Rd. to the Pritchard Rd. underpass, the pines are mostly replaced by deciduous trees, with the undergrowth being much less dense. Going off trail for a quick pee is not so much an issue. Just watch out for ticks.

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail can be accessed from Pritchard Rd., which is heavily trafficked, so the underpass is appreciated. (Other road crossings between Imeson Rd. and Halsema Rd. have sparse traffic.)

From Pritchard Rd. to Halsema Rd., the trees remain mostly deciduous, but the undergrowth again gets very thick.

That was unfortunate, because just west of Pritchard Rd., and north of the rail trail, is Whitehouse Naval Outlying Field, a military facility with a 1.5 mile runway. I was hoping to see some cool stuff. Maybe jets. As I approached, I could hear military choppers, but it was fenced — obviously — and what was beyond the fence was hidden. Understandable, but a bummer. I was jealous, because somebody was doing something high speed and low drag — like I used to do — while now I was just pulling my pud.

When I hiked the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail, the temperature was perfect, with a slight cooling breeze coming off the distant Atlantic Ocean. Even when temperatures and humidity are higher, there is plenty of high quality shade all along the trail.

If you do get tired, there are also regular benches to sit for awhile. Next to each bench was a garbage can. It was remarkable for a suburban trail to only rarely have litter. (A cigarette butt here, a plastic bottle there.) I can’t go a mile in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve without seeing a bag of dog shit.

The highlight of the eastern half of the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is Camp Milton, on the west bank of McGirts Creek, just before you reach the Halsema Rd. trailhead. Camp Milton was a Confederate camp during the Civil War. It has a relocated historical home & barn, many nature & history signs, a recreated earthworks (probably for re-enactors) and a long boardwalk, through deep forest, where the remains of the original earthworks lie.

Looping through Camp Milton will add a little under two miles to your day.

One interesting feature — unique in my experience — of the Halsema Rd. trailhead is that it has tire pumps and other gear to help bikers.

In summary, other than aggressive dogs, the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is mellow, easy, exercise.

Directions: On I-295, just north of I-10, take exit 22 onto Commonwealth Ave. Head west on Commonwealth Ave. for .75 miles. Head north on Imeson Rd. for .40 miles. The trailhead is on the west side of Imeson Rd.

GPS File: Jacksonville_Baldwin_Rail_Trail

Distance: 8.07 mi.

AEG: 137 ft.

Time: 2h 33m

Hiking Video

Hiking Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail from Preston McMurry on Vimeo.