Family Biking in Milton, FL
On a particularly lovely December day, we headed up to Milton, FL (about 30 min from Navarre) for a quick and easy family biking outing. The Blackwater Herritage State Trail runs through forest and the town of Milton, making it perfect for an outing. There are plenty of places to grab a bite to eat on your bike. (The goodies from the Milton Bakery were enough to keep our kids motivated.)
We opted to start at the Southern Trailhead. There was plenty of parking and bathrooms. It was easy to unload the bikes and get everyone settled here. (There is also a geocache here, which we sent the kids to find while we got the bikes all set up.)
The trail makes a few road crossings. They were easy enough, except for one which crosses the main highway running through Milton. There is a light and we just walked the bikes as a group. As long as you are patient it won’t be an issue.
The Milton Quality Bakery is at this crossing. We waited at The Herritage Plaza while Jeff ran into the bakery to get some treats for the ride. This was a good place to have the kids sit safely and eat.
Our other stop was into downtown Milton. You have to leave the bike trail for a few blocks to get there, but it was easy riding on residential roads and sidewalks. We called ahead to Boomerang Pizza and ordered the pizza to go. While Jeff picked it up, the boys and I walked down the Milton waterfront.
There are plenty of benches along the water front. We decided to sit in the Gazebo and enjoy our pizza. Yummy. (It appears that this whole area is lit up for Christmas and you can walk through it. We haven’t tried that out yet though.)
Once we were back on the bike path it is a very easy ride. We passed just a handful of other people using the trail. There are a few small road crossings here as well.
On the trail you do pass a playground and collection of buildings. The Milton Public Library is here (it is currently closed on weekends.) The visitor center for the state trail is also here (its also closed on weekends.) The playground has several picnic tables and a grill though. The visitors center also has bike tools outside if you need them.
There is also a geocache hidden here, so make sure you stop and check it out!
We hit the trail again until we got tired and then we just turned around and headed back. The Big Little spotted a tortoise so we stopped to check that out.
We also encountered a dead armadillo and skunk. The boys were thrilled.. well the skunk was a bit smelly.
This is such a great option if you are looking for an outdoor get away. If if your kids are good at biking then you can take the path all the way to Whiting Filed. The Big and I made it to where the path hits Musen Highway for the second time, Jeff turned around with the Middle Little before that and we caught back up with him.
