I did very little research on any of the parks before I set out on my exploration of them but I must say, Alafia River State Park was probably the biggest surprise I encountered. I drove into the park in my little blue car with my beach cruiser hooked to the back. As I arrived all I could see were people flying past me on mountain bikes. They were everywhere and racing in every direction. I pulled into the parking spot and knew right away I was not going to unleash my bike from the back, it may have even been too dangerous to walk! I looked at the posted map to see if there were any safe spots for me to explore and was lucky enough to find a couple of trails to wander along an old phosphate mine. I did take a few steps on the bike trail, just to see what it was like, and I got blown over by the body wind of the people passing me by! The regular hiking trails turned out to be exciting enough for me to enjoy for the time I was there. The park was an unusual surprise to me and I am happy I was able to experience it. Even though I don’t ride a mountain bike, there was still enough there to hold my interest, for a little while.
Before you visit, make sure you check out the parks website for all of the up-to-date park information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/Alafia
