Pensacola area riders

[XT Thumper]

Anyone interested in getting together to do some rides?
Just had in mind some simple meet/eat and ride on a SAT or Sunday type rides. A little street and as much dirt as we can find.

[Hatch]

You have found the Pensacola area riders thread ---

Originally Posted by Vico1

To all n00bs:

There are generally three types of riding offered on the PAR thread. Hope you enjoy the area riding as much as we all do…

1) ADV rides- slower paced (not slow but slower paced) rides through mostly Blackwater State Park and other area beyond. Bigger 650s 400s do well on these rides. For those wanting a good ride without running a race. Stops, pic opps, and eating are normally on the agenda. Rides are as long or short as folks want.
2) FASTBURN – This is phrase I coined a while back to refer to a much faster paced ride through the tightest trails/jeep roads we can find. Most rides are through Eglin so permits are required. High skill levels are not required but highly recommended. The rides are usually in the morning and are over in 3 to 4 hours.
3) Beasty Rides where the action is almost all street. Great rides through Fl, Al and beyond.

YOU MUST HAVE A TAGGED AND STREET LEGAL BIKE FOR ALL RIDES

Meeting Places

Blackwater State Park – Hutton Unit
30.686006
-86.876478
From Milton – East on HW90 to Hutton Store (about 9 miles from Milton bridge) and turn LEFT on to Deaton Bridge Rd (signs point to State Park and Canoe Rental). Go North 2 miles and Hutton Unit parking will be on the left.

Broxson Landing(Eglin Permit Required)
30.569447
-86.923423

From Pensacola – take I10 East and exit HW87 (Exit 37?) and go South until you cross the big bridge and then turn LEFT to boat ramp and ADV Parking Area.

From 98 – go to Navarre and North on HW87 and then just BEFORE big bridge turn off onto boat ramp area.


Timberlake Pond (Eglin Permit Required)

30 28 30.90 N
86 36 01 61 W
From Pensacola on 98 - Head East until you reach Mary Ester Cut Off. Big Four Lane just past Target. Stay on Mary Ester cut-off until it tees into Beal street. Take a LEFT and keep going about 5 miles. On the way you will pass Fair Grounds on left and Golf Course on Right. You are close. Keep going and look to left for Red Sign and parking area can be seen from road.
From I -10 - Exit I-10 South on 85 towards Niceville. Bear Right at 126 and go to Airport. Just before airport, Turn Right on 4 lane and then take Next (first) right onto one way - then join 4 lane and look for Second Paved Right. (First right is for bicycles) Look for sign Gravel parking area. Park toward the end.

Spec Pond (Eglin Permit Required)
30.698045
-86.389138

Get On I-10 and get off at Exit 70 (HW285) and then go SOUTH 3 miles and exit at Spec Pond on your LEFT (east side of road). You can see pond from road.

Originally Posted by skid=mark

PAR FF's, noobs, and lowly lurkers:

To all who may or may not give a shizz: My line of work brings me in contact with some interesting stuff occasionally. Some of you are probably already aware of some of these facts, but reading this today just reinforced for me:

a. why we are lucky as hell to be able to ride the sh-ite out of Eglin; b. why the rules are so particular about not cutting new trails--and staying on the existing "roads", etc.; and c. just what a rare jewel that stretch of real estate is... just IMHO:

"Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) is a major research, development, test and evaluation and training area for national defense. This important national asset covers a large expanse of land--724 square miles-- and includes control of 86,000 square miles of air space and water range in the Gulf of Mexico. Eglin is the largest forested military base in the world consisting of approximately 464, 000 acres in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties in northwest Florida.


The Base is considered to be one of the largest and most important public land holdings in the southeast United States. It contains an unique assemblages of plants and animals, including several species and subspecies found nowhere else. The terrain consists of rolling sand hill ridges dissected by numerous clear, cool perennial seepage streams which total approximately 600 miles and include some of the highest quality steephead creeks in the southeast.

The most prominent natural community type (78%) on Eglin is the sandhills with excessively drained sands which are generally strongly acidic and low in natural fertility and organic content. The xeric uplands sandhill association is dominated by an overstory of scattered longleaf pine with an understory of turkey oaks, bluejacks, sand post oaks and live oaks. Rare plant species include southern three-awned grass (Aristida simpliciflora), toothed savory (clamintha dentata), and pineland hoary pea (Tephrosia mohrii).

Much of this association has been affected by early naval stores, logging, and fire control practices which severely reduced the pine overstory and led to encroachment by sand pine and various scrub oaks.

Eglin is considered to be the largest intact sandhill ecosystem in the southeast and is thought to possess the largest contiguous old growth longleaf pine forest remaining in the world. Eglin's sandhill ecosystem supports the world's fourth largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers, 95% of the entire range of the endangered Okaloosa darter, the only known population of the endangered lichen Cladonia perforata and , because of the soil structure, supports an extremely high diversity of rare herpetofauna.

In addition to the sandhill community, Eglin includes almost half of the currently recognized 83 natural communities in Florida, making the base a tremendously important area for preserving biodiversity. There are over 47 taxa of rare plants found on the base including two which are almost exclusively restricted to Eglin. The Base also contains 20 miles of pristine barrier islands along the Gulf of Mexico which provides habitat for numerous rare species. Eglin's barrier island supports the largest intact population of beach mice in northwest Florida and 53% of the entire state's population of threatened snowy plover (a bird). In addition, Eglin's beaches provide nesting areas for loggerhead and green sea turtles and serve as an important rest area for neotropical migratory birds."

So basically, it would definitely behoove us to maintain the high standards that the ADV folks are known for out there (I am not kidding) by the authorities. I know several of us have had this conversation before, especially the more senior (in tenure in ADV) riders here...

[RearView]

Howdy there,

I'd be interested in some weekend riding. I'm based out on Innerarity Point. Just PM me with some more details. We can chat about getting together soon. Saturdays are best, because my girl works and it's hard to ignore her on her Sunday off. Do you know other riders in the area? I'm new here and could use some riding partners. Got a DR650 that needs a good workout. Let me know, bud.

RearView

[ineptizoid]

I'm in Pensacola--you wanna check out Blackwater this Saturday? Lotsa dirt roads to explore out there, not too far of a ride from Innerarity. I'll probably be heading out there Saturday mid-morning, will be glad to show you around.

[RearView]

Blackwater on Saturday sounds peachy. I have the day wide open. You pick a meeting spot and a time and I'll be there. Maybe since you suggested a ride you could contact XT and relay the plan. I am the worst organizer in this hemisphere so relying on my direction something will get botched up for sure. I'm not super familiar with the area, so an easy googleable landmark or some lat/long coordinates would assure my arrival at the correct location. Looking forward to not riding alone like always . I'll check the thread or just PM me.

[Hatch]

Damn that sounds like a good plan, Ive been wanting to explore blackwater forever!

Unfortunately, I will be in New Orleans playin a show on saturday. Though that will have its own benefits

Let us know how it goes, and the next time I'll be there!





oh an check yer pm's folks!

[ineptizoid]

RearView and I are planning a Blackwater ride this Saturday, meeting at 10AM at the Burger King in Milton (Hwy 90/Stewart St. intersection), y'all come on and ride with us!

[ineptizoid]

One of my local riding buddies said he'd try to join us on the ride tomorrow, and offered a spot on his trailer to anybody that doesn't want to burn up their knobbies on the trip out there. He'd be coming from west Pensacola, anybody wanna take him up on his offer?

[RearView]

Ineptizoid and I explored Blackwater today and we'll be moving onto the western portion soon. That was fun, mate. Another Saturday get together would be great. Maybe some of you other fools can join us.

I'll probably head out there next week or the following. If anyone would like to ride along, let me know.

Also would like to explore eglin soon. Need to get my permit though.

[Hatch]

Originally Posted by RearView

Ineptizoid and I explored Blackwater today and we'll be moving onto the western portion soon. That was fun, mate. Another Saturday get together would be great. Maybe some of you other fools can join us.

I'll probably head out there next week or the following. If anyone would like to ride along, let me know.

Also would like to explore eglin soon. Need to get my permit though.

glad to hear everything went well, hopefully Ill be able to join on the next ride

My buddy and I actually made the ride out to ft. walton for the permit for the eglin range, but ended up screwin around and getting there after they closed, so now I gotta ride over there again

the west part definetly is sandy, which means dusty, so dont forget yer goggles!

I actually found a set of trenches dug into a hill while on my initial voyage into the unknown, couple of MRE hotbags lyin around in em..

not to mention this:

[Madhouse]

Got any GPS coords on that AA gun? Got my permit!

[Hatch]

pm's sent!

lemme know when the next ride is as I should have my permit soon, and wanna really hit the trails hard once I do!

I assume AA is for Anti Aircraft right? thats what I thought it was, but am no expert on anything bigger than .50 cal (not expert on things smaller, but at least then I'd have a clue )

[RearView]

Will be riding Blackwater this Sat. with a few others. Check other thread for logistics. Love to get to EG soon. Is it easy to get the permit day of? I just need to ride my lazy ass over there.

[emckissack]

Hey Yall. New to board thanks to ineptazoid... I will be joining the group this weekend in BW. Hope to see you there

[Hatch]

arghhh!! I will be workin in mobile tomorrow, prolly wont be able to make it back in time. damnit

well let us know how it goes, an if ya find the AA gun out there