32 beachLIFE EXPERIENCES THE PATH LESS TRAVELED
2020 was a year that defied description . It was a year of learning through hard lessons . It was a year that required us to adapt and change continuously . The idea of work fundamentally changed for so many of us , including myself . I learned how to meet with workmates safely , which was almost exclusively online . I learned to mute myself when not speaking . I learned to unmute myself before speaking .
And yet , some elements of everyday life remained unchanged . One of
those elements lay just beyond the doorstep — off in the woods , along the beach , out on the water . The presence had been there all along in my previous pre-pandemic life , back when I was too busy rushing from one place to another . Suddenly , amid work-from-home orders and stay-at-home mandates , I had the time to wander off , to explore the vast , wide-open spaces around me . One of those places was the Longleaf Greenway Trail in Point Washington State Park .
MOUNTAIN BIKING IN COASTAL FLORIDA ?
The 30A corridor boasts idyllic beach towns , all of them strung together by the namesake highway that runs along the Gulf Coast . They ’ re also connected by the Timpoochee Trail , a paved 19-mile path that invites runners , bikers , walkers — even the occasional hoverboarder .
However , unbeknownst to many , there ’ s another byway : A 14.2-mile dirt-and-sand single-track with shady overhanging longleaf pines — the Longleaf Greenway Trail . Here you can witness mist lifting off the forest floor in the early morning . You can take in unpolluted views of the stars peeking through treetops on a cloudless night . And you ’ d never know that you ’ re less than a mile from the beach .
The western Longleaf Greenway Trailhead begins in Blue Mountain Beach and terminates at the eastern trailhead on South County Highway 395 . The trail itself becomes muddy after a heavy rain — and yet it ’ s still worth the trouble if you ’ re undaunted by the prospect of tromping through a few brief stretches of ankle-deep slop . County Highway 83 and 283 serve as “ bail-out ” points between the trailheads , dividing the trail roughly into thirds . If you are not up for riding or hiking the entire trail , turn south on the paved bike paths running alongside either highway . Both lead back to 30A and the Timpoochee Trail .