I honestly thought I had hiked, or at least knew about, all of the trails around Tallahassee. This is until our local Hike it Baby group scheduled a hike to Barnette and Sally Allen Nature Preserve and introduced me to a new trail! I love this adventurous group of friends that are always willing to explore new places!
The Barnette and Sally Allen Nature Preserve is an 8.9-acre patch of woods, tucked between East Call Street and the CSX Railroad tracks. It’s located in the back of a small neighborhood right in the middle of Tallahassee, yet very few people even know it exists! But there it is, a cute little, not quite 1/2 mile, trail hidden in the city.
There is no designated parking lot for the nature preserve, so we just parked on East Call Street across from the trailhead.
There isn’t a clear trail entrance, so we just walked to the trailhead sign and looked around. Sure enough, the trail starts behind the sign and we headed to the right.
After viewing the area from the road (it was a bit overgrown, but everything is overgrown in Tallahassee), we were pleasantly surprised to find such a well-defined and well-maintained trail. The trail was wide enough and smooth enough for a friend’s double jogging stroller, but I wouldn’t take a regular stroller with plastic wheels (mainly because the various tree roots can be difficult in typical strollers).
The trail was interesting enough to keep the toddlers entertained and the adults marveling at the serenity this close to so much in the city.
We passed a sinkhole/water retention pond covered with duckweed, but it was far enough off the trail not to be a magnet to the toddlers.
There are some cute footbridges over a little stream/runoff that was fun for the kids to stand on and throw sticks. It’s certainly not much of a creek to look at, but the kids loved watching the water and watching their rocks “plop” and their sticks float. 🙂
The trail loops back around to the left and runs alongside the CSX railroad tracks for a bit- close enough for the kids to see the tracks, but not close enough where you would have to worry about them if a train came through. There doesn’t appear to be anything necessarily keeping you off the tracks though, so if you have particularly adventurous kiddos, you’ll want to watch them and keep them off the tracks.
Finally, the trail turns away from the tracks and back toward the trailhead, crossing over a large concrete drainage contraption of some sort.
All in all, the trail took us about 30 minutes to walk and that was with a handful of dawdling toddlers. It’s definitely short enough to do on a lunch break or quick evening stroll.
No need to bring extra food or more than an essential water bottle, but I would suggest bug spray as the mosquitoes are pretty relentless.
Do you love to find new places to explore in your hometown? Are you from Tallahassee and have found this trail or know of any other “hidden” trails? Do you have any hidden trails in your neighborhood?
Happy trails!
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