The skinny:
Alafia River State Park singletracks are IMBA EPIC certified. Wide range of novice to intermediate to advanced to highly advanced sections. The trailhead parking lot has bathrooms with hot water, bicycle rinsing stations, shaded pavilions, a volleyball net and a playground.
Camping and equine trails are available.
Parking fee: $4.00 for vehicle with driver only or $5.00 per car load (up to 8 people).
For further information visit: www.floridastateparks.org/alafiariver/default.asp and www.swampclub.org
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Lots of fun. Stayed off of the expert trails but was still able to ride a most of the trails.
| ThankGreat challenging trails... something for everyone.. just a great system
| ThankVery fun trails that are very well maintained. There is definitely something for everyone here. Loved it! Everyone was very friendly
| ThankGreat trail system, from mild to wild
| ThankTop trail system. Among the best I've ridden in the East. What a great trail system. Highly recommended. Buzzard Bay Loop kinda creepy. Must be a hundred big buzzards in the trees around the small pond. Felt like they were just waiting for me to fall so they could attack. =:-o. Trailheads are very well marked and include QR code's you can scan to get information about that specific loop. I rode the day after a rain and the trails were in good shape. Seems they are mostly sand and drain well. Many places on the trail system there are large boards with the full trail system
| ThankMap. Trails are properly rated for the skill level. Lots of boardwalks and variety for any one.
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Great well maintained, something for everyone. Better be in good shape for the single and double blacks.
| ThankOutstanding trail sustem. The crew who maintains the trail does an awesome job. Glad to call this my home trail.
| ThankReally fun trails and something for everyone. Well maintained and well marked. Some more technical trails with varying levels of drops, jumps, bridges, and climbs. Usually always an option to go around an obstacle if you're uncomfortable with it. You'll see plenty of people out there as well but it never seemed overcrowded and all are pretty friendly. Easy parking and a small bike shop on site. $5 park entry fee per car. Didn't want my day to end but I was toast after riding all day. Plenty to explore and will definitely be back!
| ThankAmazing trails. Highly highly recommend as there is something for everyone. Well marked and well maintained. Good technical sections including drops, jumps, bridges, and others. Usually always have the option of doing an obstacle or going around it. Really just great great fun. Spent all day here and didn't really want to stop riding but by the end of the day my body was toast. Will definitely be back.
| ThankOne of the finest trails in the state of Florida. Excellent flow and technical trails to keep you wanting more. A nearly full over-flow parking lot is all the proof you need to know what people think of these trails. Good enough that it is worth a day trip up from Miami. Only thing keeping her from 5 stars was getting lost taking a wrong turn in an area not well marked.
| ThankBrilliant, beautiful park!
| ThankPretty fun trail series! They just opened some pretty gnarly drops!
| ThankPretty fun trail series! They just opened some pretty gnarly drops!
| Thankn our way to Tampa from Miami we stopped and spent some time in the Everglades. While it's awesome to see alligators in their natural habitat from a boat, it's not so great when they are sitting on the sides of mountain bike trails. Is Alafia giving SAntos a run for it's money - or have they pulled ahead? you decide.... oh- and if you need a rental- check out AJ's Bikes.
| ThankProud to call alafia my home town trail since I'm only 50 mins from it and come ride here almost every weekend. Great nature encounter and the trails are just up to par and well maintained. Riding in balm boyette next weekend another great system here in Fl. Happy riding everyone.
| ThankA Yankee's perspective: anyone coming from mountains should have no problem with the Blue and Single Black Diamond trails. Double blacks will primarily depend on how good you are at drops and jumps.
So I just rode this today. First off- mountain bike only unidirectional trails automatically makes this a good trail system. But add in how well maintained the trails are (thank you Swamp guys and gals), the flow, the tech they have been able to add, the fact that there is a trail for every leval, and the sheer beauty of the place, and you have something special.
Would I make a trip to FL just to ride it- probably not just for the mountain biking part. You can find things just as good probably a lot closer to home. But I would for the uniqueness and beauty of it. I mean where else can you mountain bike in jurassic park and pass a rookery of Snowy Egrets? And if you are within a 3 hour drive of it while in FL you definitely should check it out.
Re skill color markings- I would say they are accurate. The blacks and double blacks aren't really more gnarly, as there isn't much gnar in general (it is FL after all) but they have more technical ascents and descents and the double blacks have some real rad drops and jumps that are not for the faint of heart or unskilled.
If you like speed hit North Creek and Rollercoaster. There are then some short blues and blacks and double blacks off of these you can try if you're feeling up to it. Buzzard Bay, Razorback, Derailed and Frankenstairs were all dooable by yours truly on a rental with no dropper. That lack of dropper stopped me doing some bigger drops as I nearly got castrated by the seat on a 6 footer and decided to limit myself to 3 footers or less after that.
UBC Alafia has a great mini bike shop there if you forget something and they rent bikes. Word of warning- no droppers on the cheaper rental mountain bikes and not even a quick flip on the seat post. I'm gonna write them about this. They are really awesome and have some nice bikes, but come on man, it's 2019 and with trails like what they have in Alafia all their bikes should have droppers. I rented a Stumpy ST (120/130) that if it had a dropper would have been a fine bike. But as it was I rode half my ride with the seat too low for pedalling so I could hit the drops, and then when I was getting cramps raised it for the more pedal trails but had to avoid drops and just couldn't really jump at all.
Type of bike- don't need a long travel bike, although something slacked out that pedals well too would be awesome for the drops on the double blacks. I was so wishing I had my Bronson- while I wouldn't have needed all the suspension it would have allowed me to hit the double black drops.
Recommend going to Alafiatrails.com before you go- they have GoPro footage of all the trails.
$5 per car to get in.
Now stop reading this and go ride it.
| ThankAmazing place !!!
| Thankjust getting a lot rain lately. hard options are getting washed out.
| ThankDespite 18 days straight of afternoon rain, the trail crew has still managed to keep the blue singletrack well maintained. No washouts or standing water, just a few muddy patches to navigate around.
| ThankAwesome track! Just moved to tampa from Phila area two weeks ago. Never seen anything like this place. Like singletrack rising in viet nam. Amazingly well maintained. Kudos to SWAMP team.
| Thank