Withlacoochee State Forest - Croom Tract
October 6, 2002 - 12-mile Loop trail (yellow loop)
by Dana Farnsworth
My wife Kelli and I set out mid-morning for a much-anticipated ride. Withlachoochee was new to me and this was my wife's first real single-track experience. I decided to ride the 12-mile Loop because it seemed like a good distance. Once we made the drive from Tampa and found Trailhead #3, we mounted up and set out. I happened to grab my compass and map at the last minute. I'm glad I did. We crossed the road at the trailhead and began our loop south. We initially entered a dense oak and pine forest that provided a lot of shade as well as plenty of large roots to navigate over and around. There are a couple of rooted, short but steep descents here. After the first three or four, I stopped to see if I was still married, I mean, if Kelli still wanted to continue. Not being a quitter, she decided to ride on. The terrain as well as the elevation started to change as we went down the gentle change in elevation. After the oak forest, we encountered beautiful slash pine areas, where the trail was open and smooth.
There are several areas of 6" deep sand throughout some sections of this trail. Caution is suggested here. If you haven't ridden in sand before, it can be pretty hairy. Braking is akin to hydroplaning on the road. Steering is just plain tough, and forget about traction! One otherwise mild climb was made very hard due to the sandy single track.
We began a subtle rise in elevation that crossed the road we came in on. Back into the slash pine we enjoyed some smooth single track. Soon after that we descended a little more into a marshy area that was spotted with bunches of blue and white wildflowers and tall whispy grasses. This was one of my favorite areas. Like the first section south of the road in, the next area after the road is the reverse of it. Along the way, we were occasionally a little confused by several trails that branch off of or intersect with the 12-mile Loop Trail. I was very glad that I had a map and compass with me. After getting a bearing, it's pretty easy to look at the map, check the forest roads that you've crossed and figure out approximately where you are. If you're not familiar with this trail, make sure to take a map and compass with you. You really could ride around for a long time before finding your way out. We stopped and enjoyed a couple of energy bars before heading down our last few miles.
The rise climb back up to the road and the trailhead is exactly like the first area we encountered. Only this time, we were climbing instead of descending. It's really a fairly mild climb, but Kelli and I were pretty tired at this point. We arrived back at the car, very satisfied with our ride, and enjoyed a couple of celebratory cold ones.
10/27/02
Trails: Southern section of the 32-mile (blue) Loop Trail and southern section of the 12-mile (yellow) Loop Trail
Withlacoochee has such nice trails; we couldn't stay away! Today we planned to ride a small section of the 32-mile loop Blue Trail, ride up Croom Road to trail head 2 and ride a little of the 12-mile (yellow) Loop, backtrack to Croom Road and then continue back to trail head 1.
Kelli and I chatted with a couple of nice guys at trail head 1 as we were preparing for our ride. We hadn't been on any of the blue trail yet, so we were anxious to get going. We chose to ride the small section that is south of trail head 1. The terrain and trails are very similar to the yellow loop; twisty, enjoyable single track winding through oaks and slash pine groves. About a third of the way into this trail, we encountered exceptionally sandy sections that didn't get better until about three quarters of the way through. It not only slowed us down, but wore us out too. Kelli had her first wipe-out in her very early off-road biking career here. We couldn't have been happier to see hard pack again!
Once we reached Croom road, we decided to ride down to trailhead 2 and ride a little of the 12-mile (yellow) loop, to look for a spot that I really liked from our last ride here. After a while, we both were getting tired. We still hadn't found the spot I was looking for, so I offered to continue for a short period, while Kelli turned around and went back to the first forest road to take a break.
I continued on, never to find the elusive spot I was looking for. When I returned to Kelli, she had several new scrapes on her. Seems she had wiped-out again! I hadn't had the pleasure of viewing either one, I could only see the damage.
We returned to Croom Road at trailhead 2 and opted to ride back to the car on the road instead of on a trail. It was hot, we were tired, it was around 1:00pm and we hadn't eaten lunch yet, so the road seemed a logical choice.
The trails on this section of the blue loop are nice, some of my favorites. The downside seems to be that some very long sections are exceptionally sandy. Allow yourself extra time and water while you are riding this section. I was very tired after riding just a mile or so of sandy trails.
01/19/03 Northern 32-mile loop (blue) from parking lot #1 to 12-mile bail out)
I just added another half-point to my rating for Withlacoochee! Previously I've enjoyed mostly the predominately flat and twisty sections of the yellow loop and the southern section of the blue loop. Both these trails are great, but mostly flat. What it lacked in difficulty it made up for in pure enjoyment and scenery. That all just changed. Let me first say that this ride was so enjoyable, Kelli and I completed it twice this weekend!
Starting out at parking lot #1 we made our way up Croom Road to just beyond Nobelton Road, where the blue loop heads into the woods off Croom Road to our right. It was easy to find as it is clearly marked. The trail started out similar to the yellow loop - twisty, flat and fast. The main difference being more whoop-dee-doos. Kelli enjoys whoop-dee-doos, so we were having fun. Around 5 miles into the trail we came upon the first of what would be three signs that indicated two seperate choices of either easy or harder routes. We chose the harder route. This section was a playground of two or three little hills that the trail ran up, down and around. After more very enjoyable riding which included a ride through a small gorge, we came upon another choice. Once again we chose the harder route. This one was similar to the first and even included a neat ride through a small gorge too. I was floored! I thought all of trails at Withlacoochee were fairly flat. I was certainly enjoying this, and it was going to get even better!
Kelli wasn't feeling well as we discussed if we were going to bail-out at the 8 mile or 12 mile marker. We decided to continue on to the 12 mile marker. The next 4 miles turned out to be even better than the previous 8 miles. After the 8 mile bail-out, we were riding along a high ridge with a small lake below. It really looks much more like the northeast here as opposed to Florida. Shortly after that, we found ourselves riding along the edge of the most beautiful sight I think I've seen in Florida. A gorgeous tall green grass field was contained in a small area surrounded by pine and oak trees. It is certainly an incredible sight! I imagined Frodo from "Lord of the Rings" walking along through the head-high grasses.
Next came a short climb and a beautiful descent into a large fern-lined gorge. The descent is technical, but I hardly noticed as I was thrilled with the surroundings. This was turning out to be a very special ride! One last well-marked choice of easier or harder routes was next. I chose the harder, Kelli was a little freaked out from a technical descent immediately following the sign so she chose to ride the easier route after snapping a picture of me going down. This trail section dropped me down along a ridge and then back up with one last drop and rise before both trails converged again. What was left before the 12 mile bail-out is a blast. Lots of little climbs and drops that can be ridden brake-free. I was really enjoying the ups and downs, the twisty turns and the flow of this section. It's punctuated by a long fast drop that made Kelli exclaim "ooooohoohoo"! There is a large root on the rise after the drop to look out for - I did an ender as I misjudged my ability to just "roll up and over it".
We soon came up on the well-marked 12 mile bail-out. At this point, we had three choices to get back to the car. We could ride down dusty Nobelton Road, cross it and ride a secton of singletrack that runs parallel to the road or continue past that to the Withlacoochee State Rail Trail. We rode the not-so-well-maintained single track for a while and the cut over to the rail trail that took us back to our car.
This is an incredible stretch of highly enjoyable intermediate single track. I'm looking forward to riding the rest of the northern blue loop in the future!
