The MTB trails are on the NW end of the Sanctuary, right across from the Turkey Creek "Ho Chi Minh" MTB trail. There are lots of bridges, switchbacks, tight turns, a few jumps (nothing spectacular), and some great scenery. If you get on the horse trails, you will find a lot of sugar sand. A great wrorkout that you can get some speed on. --
Future home of the South Region Management and Education Center, the variety of habitats found on the 395-acre Malabar Scrub Sanctuary make it an ideal place for visitors to learn how wetland and upland communities interact. The protected habitats include xeric (dry) hammock, scrub, scrubby flatwoods, pine flatwoods, sand pine scrub, ponds, sloughs, and depression marshes. Trails weave through many of these natural communities, including several areas recently treated with prescribed fires. Fire is a natural factor in many of Florida’s ecosystems, and hikers will be amazed at the lush, green regrowth in areas that were burned only a short time ago. The sanctuary is a refuge for the Florida scrub-jay, gopher tortoise, and Eastern indigo snake. All these species benefit from controlled burns. Restrooms are available at the adjacent Malabar Community Park.
Size: 395 acres
80% Novice with some intermediate skills required here. Still found some loose off leashed dogs on single track in this designated wildlife Sanctuary.
| ThankDecent lengthy single track trail through saw palmetto and scrub. Some parts are scenic but overall basic single track with no elevation change and no significant features. The trail is very suitable for beginners. Thanks to those that maintain the trails all appeared to be in good shape.
| ThankI enjoy riding this section. Not a bad way to gain extra miles. Also allows for my children's competitive nature to come out. They range from 8yrs to 15yrs and ask when can we ride the trail again. Definitely a win win!!!
| ThankReviewed this 6 yrs ago! So now for 2018 I'll update. This is a big long trail (if you do it all probably 15miles). You can park on Briar Creek Rd at Northwest entrance, or at Malabar Woods blvd for South entrance. Its basically open scrub terrain with a few hollows and palm groves. Very scenic...watch out for tortoise and snakes. It is mostly open so will be hot in summer...bring enough water as its about 2hrs around at a leisurely pace.
| ThankConnects with Turkey Creek trail at northwest entrance on Briar Creek rd. Beginner to Int. Advanced riders go to Grapefruit Trail nearby..
The recent rain has help with the traction in the sandy sections. A nice trail with good scenery.
| ThankMy wife and i visited this trail while in Melbourne. Combined with the Turkey Creek trail it was a nice ride to get us back in shape after the winter. Relatively flat with some roots and some loose sand due to dry conditions. I showed about 2 1/2 miles on this loop but we combined it with Turkey Creek and the Cameron connector for about 7 miles.
| ThankI ride this trail along with Turkey Creek and the Cameron Wildlife Preserve trails three to four times a week. They all run together. They aren't the greatest trails around but are not bad for the area. While not technical due to elevation and geographic features the roots will challenge your bike handling ability. We do group rides at bicycletrailsforfun.com and have a weekly ride here on Monday evenings
| ThankMalabar Scrub West is more complex and varied than Malabar East... and much more fun. So my review is really for West. Some tight jungle like areas, open scrub pine and palmetto areas (watch the palmetto roots often hidden by vegetation, they can take you down). There are also some bridges across creeks and wetland areas plus a few log hops / ramps. Fun stuff. Gets really tight in places, so get used to riding thru outreaching palmetto branches and various bushes, but nothing that bad and kind of adds to the experience.
The Malabar East loop is really kind of non-nondescript... flat and sandy for the most part. I would rate it a 2. But West is great. A real Florida trail ride experience.
You can make a great morning by riding all the trails there together... Turkey Creek, Malabar West, Cameron Preserve, and Malabar East. Sand really isn't an issue overall... Malabar East seems to have most of it.
| ThankThe last year has been great seeing the new trails come in. The land managers have finally seen the value of quality trails. Keep up the good work.
| ThankI have been riding these trails a lot the last couple months and each week the sand areas are getting larger, deeper and more frequent. Both here and across the street at Turkey Creek the sand is getting worse and worse. The blue trail has the least amount but on the red and yellow it's almost not worth it anymore. Just a warning to anyone who hasn't been here in a while. There are still some fun sections but you're going to get into sand if you are wanting to ride the entire area.
| ThankHahahaha....Wryfox reviews this trail...."In fact, the map for Malabar includes Turkey Creek in its route and mileage. Both are shorter than advertised on this site. Actual length of singletrack is 3.5 miles."....That is so incorrect, as I spent the whole day out there mapping it on a Garmin mapping system. Malabar Scrub & Turkey Creek are totally two different trail systems that are separated by one road indeed, but are not mapped together by no means as Wryfoc so stated. Not sure where Wryfox acquired his/her info, but it is incorrect by far and needed to be stated here of his/her error.
| ThankDrove down from Daytona to check out the area. Tried this trail and Turkey Creek, which are basically a contiguous trail separated by a residential road. In fact, the map for Malabar includes Turkey Creek in its route and mileage. Both are shorter than advertised on this site. Actual length of singletrack is 3.5 miles. Its wide open for most of it so sun gets hot. Lots of scrub and brambles. Got two flats, but shame on me for running race tires. Fun little trail for what it is. No elevation to speak of, just a ride through the woods with some roots and bushes. This is Florida so there is substantial sand on trail. Would rate this a beginner trail, not intermediate.
Supplement: Beware the red trail is bidirectional, even though it is singletrack. Look out for oncoming riders! * Review edited 3/5/2012
| ThankRode here and Turkey Creek on Saturday. Good, fun ride and good exercise but check this out: got to the very end of the blue trail and only THEN did I get a flat. Had to walk the bike the 2+ miles back out. Took the bike to Infinity Bike Shop in Melbourne (GREAT shop!), got a new, thorn resistant tube and headed back to the trails to finish what I started. Great ride, great day, great weekend (ran the Warrior Dash on Sunday in Lake Wales too!).
| ThankMy girlfriend and I wanted to go on a bike ride and i decided we should go through some trails. We found this by googling bike trails and are really happy. We got a great workout in and saw some pretty sights and animals including: tortoises, rabbits, foxes, alligators, and of course squirrels. I highly reccomend these trails to anyone who wants to just go out and have some fun while getting a great workout.
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