Mountain Biking Wilderness Park, Trout Creek, Flatwoods and Morris Bridge in Tampa, Florida

Nuts & bolts

- Location: Tampa, Florida

- Directions to Morris Bridge Park: The park is 3.5 miles northeast of I-75 on Morris Bridge Road (CR-579). From I-75 exit at Fletcher Avenue. Morris Bridge Road bisects the park. Hole in the Fence trail head is only one-half mile northeast from I-75/Fletcher exit on Morris Bridge Road.

- Directions to Flatwoods Park: The main entrance is five miles northeast of I-75 on Morris Bridge Road (CR-579) at Flatwoods Park Trail. The Flatwoods Visitors Center is around a half-mile in. The Bruce B. Downs Blvd., entrance is located one mile northeast of I-75. Admission is free, but a donation is a nice thing to do.

Directions to Trout Creek Park: Directly east of I-75 at Fletcher Ave. Head northeast on Morris Bridge Road for one-half mile, the entrance will be on your left. Hole in the Fence trail-head is directly across the Morris Bridge Road.

- Admission: none, but donation collection tubes are in place at each entrance. Support the trail system and donate what you can.

- Activities: Hiking, biking, picnicing and canoeing

- Contact: Southwest Florida Water Management District 2379 Broad Street, Brooksville, FL 34604-6899 Phone: 352-796-7211 or 800-423-1476 (FL only)

South West Association of Mountain Peddlers - at www.swampclub.org

Lessons learned:

- This is a complex set of trails. Until you are familiar with the circuit, make sure to bring a map AND a compass!

- Bug spray is a MUST during March - November

- Bring plenty of water

- Be aware that recent rains can make some trails more difficult if not impassable

- Soft sand single track requires a lot of attention to keep from crashing

- The Main Trail makes a 17-mile loop, but a little on-road riding at Morris Bridge Road (northeast) is needed to complete it. Taking side trails can take the total mileage over 20 miles

Wilderness Park Review

by Dana Farnsworth, Outdoor Travels

Five separate park areas make up the county owned Wilderness Park complex: Morris Bridge, Flatwoods, Sargeant, Dead River and Trout Creek. Morris Bridge encompasses 106 acres, Trout Creek 42 acres and Flatwoods, the largest, at 5,400 acres. The area is composed mainly of pine flatwoods, hardwood floodplain forest, upland hardwood hammocks, oak scrub and cypress swamps. Popular with cyclist from Tampa, the Main Trail that loops and traverses three parks (Morris Bridge, Trout Creek and Flatwoods) is at a minimum 17 miles with approximately 15 miles of side trails under a naturally shaded canopy. The trails varry in degree of difficulty with the majority being well-groomed beginner to intermediate trails. Experienced riders will appreciate trails like Palmetto and Gator Bait that feature tight winding sections and rooted sort-of technical surfaces. Although some areas of loose sand are present here and there, a lot of the surfaces are hard packed making them a "fast-as-you-want-to-go" racetrack. Hours are generally sunrise to sunset. Trails closures during the rainy season (summer) are a guarantee. Please keep the wilderness just that, and observe posted signs.

Morris Bridge Park

The most popular and most extensive network of trails are accessed at the "Hole in the Fence" trailhead approximately 100 yards from the I-75 Fletcher Avenue off ramp, east on Morris Bridge Road. The actual facilities for Morris Bridge Park are a few miles north of the "Hole in the Fence" trailhead. Since the main facilities are a few miles away and Trout Creek's facilities are directly accross the street, this area is probably not the most used due to it's lack of amenities, but it does offer the most choices of trails that are immediately accessible. Home to all sorts of Florida wildlife, you'll likely see armadillo, feral pigs, hawks, wild turkey, deer and more! Keep in mind, you will probably get lost at least once. A map and compass are highly recommended for all but the seasoned Morris Bridge rider.

Flatwoods (see our review)

The northern most park of the three, Flatwoods is probably best known for its seven-mile paved loop track which is a favorite among Tampa's road bikers, skaters and joggers. A two-mile paved extension connects Bruce B. Downs Blvd., with Loop Road. There are restrooms at the visitors center, air compressor and picnic tables as well as four rest shelters with drinking water along the Loop Road. A network of fast and easy to ride single track winds under the protectin of pine canopies connecting Morris Bridge to Trout Creek.

Trout Creek Park

This 42 acre site on the Hillsborough River is popular for fishing, canoeing and off-road biking. Facilities here include picnic tables, nature boardwalks, shelters and ample parking. Just across the road from the "Hole in the Fence" trailhead that accesses the largest number of trails, this area is mostly used due to it's facilities. Panther trail is a high point. This easy to ride trail circumnavigates a beautiful wetland area, full of water birds and a few aligators! If you want to picnic after a ride, Trout Creek or Morris Bridge, who's actual facilities are a few miles north on Morris Bridge Road, offer the best views and facilities.

Featured Log

Return to Wilderness Park - A full loop and some exploring - 12/25/03

by Dana Farnsworth

What a nice Christmas present we had. Today, my wife and I decided to visit an old friend. Neither of us had been to WIlderness Park in some time. A ride was much needed. We decided to ride a full loop of the three parks and do some side trail exploring. We entered at Hole in the Fence trail head and rode Gator (which is rarely open due to high water) and then continued on the Main Trail to Indian (which I have never ridden due to it being perpetually closed). Indian turned out to be the most interesting trail in the system. It's a cypress laden trail that is moderately challenging. Indian twists and turns, with to my surprise a few slight elevation changes. We even spotted a few grazing deer while riding. Indian exited onto the Powerline trail a few yards above the Main Trail. Instead of our normal route on the Main Trail, we chose to continue on a trail I don't think is mapped. It roughly paralleled the Main trail and although it was rather under-developed and overgrown it wasn't too hard to ride. I was surprised to find that we exited the trail a few feet north of where we normally would have, had we taken the Main Trail. We exited onto a double track road that leads to the Morris Bridge facilities. In order to skip ahead and not to repeat any details from our previous loop ride (above), we continued on the same path (Main trail) as before. We did make one side trip onto the trail Panther which is on the Trout Creek side. It's a pretty trail that is punctuated by a beautiful marsh lake full of all manner of water fowl. We stopped, took a few pictures and marveled at the beautiful landscape before turning around and rejoining the Main Trail which eventually wound us back to the Hole in the Fence trail head (after spotting literally dozens of armadillos).

Kelli and I both commented on how much easier this loop was to ride after slightly a year since our first attempt. Kelli now has a much more appropriate bike for this sort of riding. We also have another year of active riding under our belts - which equates to us being in much better shape. All in all Wilderness Park, et al, still offers a great wilderness experience and a great opportunity to get off-road and stretch your legs on your bike. If you are looking for a longer ride, a good spot to stretch your legs and ride hard or a great spot to hone your off-road skills, the Wilderness ark system is still the pre-eminate trail system in the Tampa Bay Area. WHile many parks offer more thrills and spills, few if any parks in this area offer this type of scenery and long-ride adventure-type capability.