gen. james a. van fleet state trail

We happened across this walking/biking trail while exploring Polk County, Florida. It is about a 50 mile trail with a few trail heads along the way. Nearly perfectly straight and flat pathway. Easy, wide open paved trail. Toilets and benches along the way. Bring water. Wear a hat. Bring camera and field glasses. We entered and exited the trail from the same point as we walked about two miles in then out. See wild life, birds, and just enjoy a nice day in always sunny Florida. Trail maps available at trail head. Parking/toilets at trail heads. Look up details about this abandoned railway as there is history here.

Went biking with some friends. Beautiful day and the trail was remote quiet and very awesome. Nice flat ride - long uninterrupted peace and quiet. Saw wild turkeys, deer, even a rattlesnake! This was one of the best rides we have ever taken. A tad hard to find - but worth the extra effort. Say "hi" to the cows while you are there too! Not much else to do in Polk City - but it does have a great place to ride!

If you enjoy riding with peace and quiet, this is the ride for you. You will see all types of nature : alligators, turkey, snakes, turtles and rabbits. If you start out of Mabel trail head off of SR 50 head toward Polk City you will come to another trail head (Green Pond Road) has restrooms. Make sure you bring your camera.

Van Fleet Trail is about 36 miles from Mabel to Polk City. The trail used to be train tracks therefore the trail is pancake flat with hardly any turns or stops. Anyone that has never been to this trail need to bring plenty of water and food. There are no close by stores along the trail until you get closer to Polk City. Starting at Mabel (off Hwy 50) there are is parking, bathrooms, water fountain and a shaded place to sit. There is nothing but you and nature on both sides of the trail until about 9 miles in (bay lake rd) there are bathrooms. At about 20 miles in from Mabel there is another set of bathrooms and water fountain. Once about 30 miles in from the Mabel side (entering Polk City) you can find a few small stores close to the trail. It is a beautiful nature trail. During my rides at Van Fleet I have seen lots of snakes, gators, deer, rabbits, squirrels, hogs, tortoise, eagles, hawks, owls, and a bobcat. Surprisingly the most dangerous animal out of the ones listed was the rabbits and squirrels since the rest of the animals seem to try and avoid people at all cost, but the rabbits and squirrels will cross your path suddenly without a care in the world :)

We spent 4 hours cycling along this path and it was so beautiful. The vegetation is so different from what we see back home, it was such a delight. We saw wild turkeys, deer, gopher tortoises and several varieties of song birds. We also saw evidence of wild boar digging along the side of the path. Can’t wait to do it again!!

The trail used to be a railway track so it's very straight, but that makes it safe too, because you can see people coming for a mile. It's wide enough to accomodate walkers and bikers and even though some people ride pretty fast, I was never particularly bothered by them the way you can be on trails that have lots of twists and turns. On the north section of the trail there are side trails, and even a small toilet with a bike rack beside it. There's a good parking lot in Polk City from which you can go north or south on the trail. When you are finished your ride, go to Country Angels just up Main Street for some lunch.

A very long and wide asphalt trail in great shape for flat biking. Passed alot of cattle farms and saw a rather large river otter in one of the swamp areas. Some sun and some shade and a couple of bathrooms along the path.

State parks providing free facilities for cyclists walkers skaters etc is commendable. At 66 years of age it has to be flat. This trail was as close to perfect as you would want. Excellent parking at the entrance. Well signed. My bike computer failed but that made no difference because there were mile markers all the way. My wife and I loved it. My lifetime best was 22 mikes but I exceeded that my 3 miles. Saw alligator deer and turtles en route. Usually flat can mean uninteresting but the swamps provided a lovely backdrop. Yes it's rural. I stopped at the first toilet less than 1 mile in and a ranger was there. Very friendly and I asked him about snakes. He confirmed that they do venture out for a sunbathe in the afternoon but provided you steered clear there shouldn't be a problem. Never saw one. I wish we were adventurous enough to complete the 29 miles but let's face it we are geezers. Our friends suggested we were nuts. When you consider our forefathers crossed rugged ground in a covered Waggon our adventure on flat paved roads pales into insignificance. A really enjoyable day out. Was my bum sore at the end. Yes was it worth it absolutely.

Moved to Polk City because of this trail. 29.3 miles of Natural Florida country side. We ride the trail 3 days every week, always a pleasure. VERY RURAL trail, No stores for drinks or snacks. Restrooms at every trail head, about every 10 miles, at Mile Marker 0.5 (Polk City) , MM 10.0 (Green Pond Rd) , MM20 (Bay Lake Rd and MM29 (Mabel). Water at MM 0.0, MM 10.0 and MM 29.3. Parking available at all 4 trail heads. Straight and Flat and uncrowded, ride slow and enjoy the sights, Ride Fast with almost the trail to yourself.

I am an avid bike rider and I am also an outdoors kinda guy. On this trail you can enjoy both. This trail is a paved trail that is long and flat. That is good if you do not like hills but you need to know it is flat, long and hot. There is shade from time to time and it is one of the most scenic bike trails in Florida. Depending on the season you will see hundreds of butterflies, lots of turtles, some deer, birds, lizards, snakes, raccoons and who knows what else. If you see a snake make sure you watch it from a distance as I have never seen so many pigmy rattlesnakes as I have on the north third of this trail. They may not have visible rattles so just let them be, they won't bother you if you don't bother them. The trail has bathrooms at about every ten miles and they are usually very clean. There is often a pickup truck that patrols the trail and they will pull over to the side when they see you and always seem to be very friendly. Remember this is one of the states most remote trails and although it is very safe you should always be alert, bring plenty of water and have a cell phone. You should also know there are sections of the trail, I have found the middle 10 miles, that has very weak cell phone service. If you ride the trail for the sights bring a camera to catch some good shots of the wildlife. I have found a majority of the riders are very friendly and follow safe riding rules, you should too. There are brochures available at the trail heads and if this is your first time it may be helpful to pick one up. The best part of this trail is that it has very few intersections with car traffic, most are in the south 10 miles from Polk City. So, to sum it up, what's not to love. You have a well maintained straight flat paved bike trail with no cars and assorted wildlife. Get a bike and try it !!!

great place for a bike ride, no dogs in the way, no cars, hardly any other people. lots of wildlife- though I guess I need to learn how to look for gators as I have only seen one so far. been taking the trail in5-10 mile segments as I am also geocaching as I go. Have gotten as far as van deem road south. love the natural setting and sounds of nature experienced as I ride. there are covered benches to rest on about every mile. no water except for green pond road picnic pavilion and the trailhead at 29 mile mark so bring plenty of your own. seems with as flat as it is there would be some rollerbladers but have only seen other cyclists so far. there is a park ranger that drives up and down the trail periodically so you are not totally on your own if something happens on the trail. and I think there is a phone number to reach them,providing your cell gets a signal, which mine didn't for most of the trail til I hit south of greenpond..

I am no where close to being able to do this whole trail, but it's great to ride a few miles and back. I have gone to both the Polk City trail head and most recently the Mabel trail head. We arrived in Mabel at about 4 pm on a hot August day, just as it had started to rain. It couldn't have been more perfect because it really cooled off the trail. This area is already shaded and the quick 10 minute shower made it so I was able to do about 10 miles. Just a warning though, the road access to the Mabel trail head is a very bumpy dirt road. Make sure your bike is strapped on tight! Also, with it being August and had just rained, the mosquitoes were out in full force. I applied spray everywhere, then used the very nice restroom at the trail head, and I guess I washed off the spray on my hands because I got 5 bites on my fingers. But that's the price you pay for being in such a beautiful setting. It is so secluded and you will see so many types of animals and butterflies, it is totally worth it for me to drive up to this side of the trail. Go check it out!

the trail is across the road from me bikes go by all the time day after day. we ride on it a lot, love taking the grandskids on it

We came across the Green Pond trailhead quite by accident. So glad we did. Walked to mile 13. Within minutes we had seen a Red Cardinal. Near the bridges we were surrounded by butterflies, at least 5 varieties of Swallowtail. Each of the three bridges had its own Alligator. On our way back we saw 2 Gopher tortoises and lots more birds. The cyclists we encountered were courteous and best of all there was absolutely no road noise. Plan to come back in the future with bikes!

If your purpose is to get exercise in a relatively safe place, the Van Fleet Trail is a good choice. If your purpose is to see great scenery and wildlife, keep looking for another trail. I think Van Fleet is boring in comparison to some of the other trails, but it has a consistantly smooth pavement surface so you do not have the worries of a gravel path.