Exploring our Local Rail to Trail

Trans Florida Central Railroad Trail

While some of the COVID19 restrictions are easing up here, we decided to explore a the Sebastian rail trail, a newer trail that we hadn’t had a chance to check out yet. This trail runs for 3 miles in each direction, is mostly paved, and is a unique trail because in one section it passes right over route 95 – a major Florida highway. (I believe they have added an extension to this trail as well since we rode it in 2020.)

To access the trail, you can park in one of two locations: The Fellsmere Trailhead or the North County Aquatic Center. (Side note- check if the aquatic center is open because this is another fun stop to make while you are in Sebastian!)

Of the two places to park, The Fellsmere trailhead is much closer to the foot bridge that goes over the highway – which is what attracted us to the Sebastian rail trail. Note that it does have a large section of gravel before you reach the footbridge. The aquatic center is farther away from the bridge, about 1.5 to 2 miles. However, if you park there, you will have pavement from the parking area to the bridge.

Fellsmere Trailhead Parking Area

We parked at the Fellsmere Trailhead. In the parking area, there is this large barn (assuming a visitors center and restroom – it was closed due to COVID when we visited). And an adjacent playground for the kids.

Getting to the Trail

From the parking area, it is a bit of a walk to get down to the trail. You walk down a larger gravel service road leading up to the trail. It took us about 5-10 min to get to the end of the service road walking with two children. If we did this trip again, we would probably have brought our mountain bikes, because it would have allowed us to see more in the time that we had.

Service Road

The service road leads down to the trail, then you make a right. The trail down this way is much more shaded and private. You can see the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) ropes course while you are walking along this route as well – the ropes course is managed by the University and is fairly expensive.

At the end of the gravel, you will reach the highway overpass (pictured at the top of this page). This is where the cement part of the trail starts. It is a very wide trail, room for a couple of people to ride their bikes next to each other. I took this photo from the top of the trail:

We turned around at this point, as we had been walking about 30 min so far. I would have gotten a lot farther with the kids if we had our bikes! We enjoyed the part of the trail that we saw and have plans to go back soon.

Enjoy! If you want to see more activities to do in the Sebastian and Vero Beach area, visit our page here.

Map:

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/embed?mid=1bTOqx7taumXqaXf61AAsnZnavuN7Y612&w=640&h=480]

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