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Print Friendly MapBlountstown Greenway passes through the heart of the charming town of Blountstown, the seat of Calhoun County in the Florida Panhandle. The paved trail's lush natural surroundings are a haven for wildlife. The trail's northern end is pine forest and gently rolling hills that give way to swampy lowlands as it ventures toward the Apalachicola River.
A highlight of the route is the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement on the north end of the trail. With several historical buildings in a rustic farm setting—a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, grist mill and others—the museum provides a glimpse of life in Northwest Florida during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mid-trail, exhibits inside the restored depot at M&B Railroad Memorial Park tell the story of the Marianna and Blountstown line on which the rail-trail was built. Out front, the railroad's original steam locomotive #444 is a cheerful sight with its cherry-red caboose. With less than 30 miles of track, the railroad was Florida's shortest, but it was so important to the region that the M&B was dubbed "Meat and Bread." During its long tenure, from 1909 to 1972, it carried, at one time or another, agricultural products, lumber, manufactured goods, mail and passengers.
The rail-trail is designated as part of the Florida National Scenic Trail, a hiking and backpacking route that stretches more than 1,000 miles from the Georgia border to the Everglades.
There are three major access points with parking for the Blountstown Greenway: Sam Atkins Park on the trail's north side, Neal Landing Public Boat Ramp on the trail's southern end (where River Street meets the Apalachicola River), and midway at the M&B Train Park at the intersection of Railroad Avenue and N. Pear Street.
This entire trail is about 6-7 miles. Completely gone to crap. Not maintained at all. The town takes great care of their little parks but the bike trail is garbage. Sides are collapsing and many heaves. Many crossing where you can get run over by people running the stop signs. On a special day you may find huge hogs standing you off. Bridge closed off for good. Parking is also very limited. Whoever runs this doesn’t care about it at all.
It’s been awhile since riding this trail. I like it though it’s a bit short. Some of the pavement edges are in need of repair and the wooden bridge close to the park end of the trail is closed off because of unsafe conditions. This was also noted by a rider back in February. Maybe some repairs will be done in the near future. Hope so.
We started skating the Sam Atkins park FL trail and after a few hundred yards bridge was closed:(No way to go further. The "temporarily closed sign" looked pretty permanent.
My husband and I walked the trail from the rail museum to the river and back today. Very nice trail to walk. We will be back to walk the north end very soon. Such a nice use of the old track. I wish we had one in our town.
the trail at Sam Adkins Park at the bridge has boards across it and is closed at this time. There is also a tree on the bridge as well. So skip this area for now
Why Spend money to build a trail If you are not going to maintain it? The asphalt is in decent shape, with the expected cracks and upheaval. The benches along the trail are mostly rotted as is the fitness stations. The bridge near the north end is not safe - many rotted planks. Parts of the trail have a lot of litter. The restroom at the boat ramp is pretty gross. After all that the trail was a good short exercise experience. Signage to the trailheads are non-existent.
This is an easy trail and the town people are friendly. Hurricane Michael devastated this area. Riding this trail will make you realize how powerful a category 4-5 hurricane really is. Blountstown is more than 60 miles from the coast and Michael still landed a major blow here. Hats off to the folks that cleared this trail! Still nice but not as much shade for reasons you will discover!
This was a wonderful ride, we took our 7 year old twins with their bikes as well and we all found this an easy trail. We started mid-way at the train display and rode til be got to the end at the river. It was beautiful with a nice deck at the rivers edge where we had our picnic lunch.
There are restrooms mid-way at the Depot Park and again at the end at the river.
I've ridden on the trail many times. It is an easy and maintained trail. It is a great trail for the hot summer because most of the trail is under the cover of trees. This is an excellent running trail because it is mostly flat and quite scenic. I have seen several deer at one particular section of the trail and at another a lovely red fox. Another plus is the access to restroom facilities. There is a restroom near one if not both ends of the trail and one in the center near the old train depot. Be sure to carry pepper spray or at least be aware that as one nears the river park, there are some large, unchained dogs near some homes. One was a pitbull, the other, I believe was a lab cross. Although, I've never had a run-in with them, they can be quite intimidating and I did see two fighting among themselves. Runners, do not bring your dogs on this part of the trail.
This trail was on our way from the beach to the Tallahassee area on SR 20 so we had lunch in Blountstown and found the trail with some help from the restaurant staff. Hint: the trail runs under SR 20 on the east side of town so you will not see it from the road unless you know exactly where to look. There does appear to be an short access trail to the road, but we didn't explore that.
We started at Sam Atkins Park like the other reviewer and road the 3.5 miles to the Apalachicola River. What a beautiful and well maintained trail. It really is a gem in an unexpected place. I would park at either end - the park or the river, or at the midpoint the old steam engine South Main St.
Nice scenic trail... fairly smooth pavement and wide path. Slight incline along some portions of the route (especially near the park). Several stops along the route for road crossings but they are well marked and easy to negotiate.
We started from Sam Atkins Park and on the way back from the river landing, we took a ride up the Highway 71 trail. We encountered two dogs that were not restrained and one actually chased us for a short distance (came down a driveway along the trail). The Hwy 71 trailhead (picnic table under a shelter) is located literally outside someone's front door and this home also had a dog that was not restrained (started growling at us as we approached the trailhead). Also noticed that there was a portable basketball goal set up on the trail in front of this house.
Enjoyed the ride but would probably avoid the Highway 71 portion of the trail in the future.
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