Palatka-to-Lake Butler State Trail

ABOUT THIS PLACE

It follows the abandoned right-of-way of the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway, later part of the Norfolk Southern system, and it crosses four counties: Putnam, Clay, Bradford and Union. The towns on the line are Palatka, Florahome, Keystone Heights and Lake Butler. Paving has been done in pieces rather than all at once. The first paved stretch, 5.2 miles in Clay County, opened in 2008, and more was finished west of Keystone Heights along State Road 100 by March 2023. The paved surface is twelve feet wide and flat the whole way, which is what a railroad grade gives you. Twin Lakes Park in Keystone Heights is the main trailhead for the Clay County section, and a connecting bicycle path of about five and a half miles runs north from there to Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park. The long plan is to join this corridor to others and build a continuous route of more than a hundred miles between Lake City and St. Augustine. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection manages it, and there is no charge to use it