Back in the 1990s when I first got interested in Florida's Trailwalker program, I learned of the nature trail at the Division of Forestry's Tallahassee Forestry Center on Geddie Road. Strangely enough, the trail wasn't part of the Trailwalker program. The property that the Forestry Center sits on is hemmed in by Geddie Road, the CSX railway, and the Arvah Hopkins Power Plant, so there really isn't much room for a trail, but the Division of Foresty had managed to put together a loop that was a mile or two long. I walked it once or twice, noticing that the last part of the trail wasn't especially easy to follow. I figured this meant that the trail needed to be re-blazed. Actually, it probably meant to that the trail was already not being maintained. On more recent visits to the Forestry Center I didn't see the trail at all. I mentioned it to Bud, a Division of Forestry employee. He insisted the trail was there, and work had been done on it.So I dropped by earlier today. Forestry had done a prescribed burn on the land recently, so there wasn't much underbrush. There also wasn't much sign of a trail. I checked out one path south into the woods that seemed to disappear. A second path turned out to be a firebreak. I returned to the first path, made some guesses as to where the trail might have been, and found a rustic wooden sign "WALKING TRAIL." The signpost wasn't quite vertical and was a bit charred, but there it was, the last remnant of the Forestry Center nature trail. Other than that, not even a blaze remained.
Trails vanish. Most famously, in 1958 the southernmost 21 miles of the Appalachian Trail was abandoned, from Oglethorpe Mountain to Springer Mountain. Very little if any of that stretch of trail exists today. Wandering off the Pine Mountain Trail in Roosevelt State Park (the prescribed distance for sanitary reasons), I've seen old blazes of some forgotten trail. Closer to home, a trail system near the Joe Budd Aquatic Center seems to be disappearing from neglect. And, of coure, the Forestry Center nature trail is gone.
There are still plenty of places to hike in the Lake Talquin State Forest. There are trails on the Fort Braden Tract and at Bear Creek, and foot traffic is also welcome on the Lines Tract cycling trails. Just across Geddie Road from the Tallahassee Forestry Center there are miles of roads through the Talquin Tract that you can run or walk on. But don't look for the nature trail at the Tallahassee Forestry Center, because it ain't there any more.
Links:
- Lake Talquin State Forest
http://www.fl-dof.com/state_forests/lake_talquin.html - Fort Braden Trails (West Loop)
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/fort-braden-trails-west-loop.html - Fort Braden Trails (Central Loop)
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/fort-braden-trails-central-loop.html - Fort Braden Trails (East Loop)
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/06/fort-braden-trails-east-loop.html
Reminds me of when I used to work in North Carolina in the summer at a wilderness camp (pre-GPS, internet, etc.). Most of the survey maps were circa 1940's and for some reason we never warned newbie counselors that trails on the map had often been overgrown and been swallowed by "the green". We took guilty pleasure in watching them plan hikes, knowing they would end up rock-hopping down a stream or bushwhacking in the general direction of their destination. I guess it was a useful lesson in adaptation and resourcefulness, but I don't think we could claim such high-minded intentions.
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