I spoke to William today at the office of Greenways & Trails in Inglis Florida. His info on the new section of the Withlacoochee Bay Trail is it's open. However it is not officially open, but they are not stopping people from riding it. Barricades are down. Progress Energy who built the section was supposed to inspect it on 7-17-12 and turn it over to the state (Greenways & Trails is a division of the Florida EPA.) The new section is roughly 2 miles long. This heads east from the Felburn Park Trailhead. It goes over to an island but the bridge to get over there is not constructed. If I heard him correctly. I plan on heading back over here on July 25 or 26. Ride it soon everyone.

TVM

Does this extension connect to the Withlacoochee Trail or is it accesible from the Withlacoochee Trail? If so where or how?

This extension does not connect to the Withlacoochee trail at this time. Maybe some day in the distant future.

we rode this trail over a week ago. I did post some pictures on the previous thread. It only went 1 mile east and dead ended. It did have a few nice climbs and very scenic with water on both sides in places. It was a total of 2 miles out and back. We were wondering if they were going to put a rest area at the end. Nice to hear about the bridge. It sounds like it will go to Inglis Island. My husband and I have ridden the trails on the island many times. (There's a map on the this page) but none of the trails are paved.
https://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide...ils/inglis.htm

The new part of the trail is where we saw the bobcat. Pretty good size one too.
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear we can officially ride it. We didn't go around any barriers but we did manage to get to it from the hiking trail that runs next to the man made lake. Great views.

SSJ,
there was an article recently in our Ocala paper that the north end of the Withlachochee is going to be extended to Dunnellon. Not sure when this is happening but it sounds like they will build a bridge over the river and it will come out somewhere near the Dunnellon train station off of SR 484 and SR 41. Not sure how many miles that will add. We also were told that they are going to add a fly over (not sure of the term) to go over the road in Hernando. I think it would be similar to the one on the south end that goes over 50? Anyway, again...who knows how long this will take.

Thanks to all for the response. I really like the Withlacoochee Trail and wish I lived closer to it. I really look forward to any additions/extensions that they add to the existing trail. I have already signed up to ride Rail Trail Ride October 7.

Anyone else planning to attend that ride?

Withlacoochee State Trail and Withlacoochee Bay Trail don't connect. That's correct. Great info Linda. Glad you got to ride it. Yes they do plan to build a bridge on the new extension. I plan to ride here the 26th or 27th. I can't wait. Sorry Jim can't make that ride.

Linda my mistake to start a new thread about the Withlacoochee Bay Trail instead of adding to yours. I'm an idiot.

not a big deal!! I appreciate the update. Hubby and I are anxious to ride it again AND I'm really hoping they do the bridge. That would be great!

Weather permitting I will be here on July 25th or 26th. Since I have to come from Sarasota I'll bring my Publix sub, chips, and drinks for lunch. I'll also ride the other section too. Paved trails are the best. I'm dying to get back to the Baseline Trail. I really love that one. Take care Linda.

DH and I are planning to do the ride on the 7th. Also, at some point there are plans in the works to connect the Good Neighbor Trail in Brooksville as well. I have no idea how long it will take (if it ever happens).

I would love to see the link to the Ocala paper article.

Be careful Skymom. Dan DeWitt of the Tampa Bay Times online wrote on March 14 2012 the Good Neighbor Trails passes through a bad section of town. Many things are regularily discovered on the trail including beer and liquor bottles, old tires, ripped T-shirts, used condoms and spent needles that had presumably been used to mainline drugs. Info like this is important for me when I visted trails because I do not want to be a victim. Good luck.

Well, I tried to find the article on-line but as typical for Ocala, there is nothing in the archives. I know it was in a weekend paper and about a month or so ago. Sorry....

I plan to be in Inverness at the registration area about 8 am. I will be weating my West Virginia jersey. Step up and introduce yourself. Picture of jersey above

I did the ride last October and plan to attend again, but, I won't pre-register because, if i do, it's sure to rain. This way way, I fool the rain gods.

Thanks for trying anyway.

I will look for you but don't know if I will be that far North by 8. We aren't starting at the registration area, but instead at either the Owensboro or Ridge Manor Trailheads, and hoping we can make it by 9 to the registration.

Fooling the rain gods is a wonderful thing.

Just posting to move this thread up to the top since the Withlacoochee Trail Ride is coming soon. I know the original thread was about the Bay Trail but what can we say, the thread was highjacked some time ago.