Mountain Biking and Off-Road Trails — Sebastian, Florida

The off-road riding near Sebastian is at Sebastian Inlet State Park, which has three marked mountain bike trails, at St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park west of Interstate 95, and on the old Dinky Line rail bed toward Fellsmere.

None of it is mountain biking in the hill-country sense. Florida State Parks says the term mountain bike trail is used at Sebastian Inlet State Park where sandy and swampy flatland challenges the off-road cyclist (Florida State Parks). The challenge near Sebastian is surface, not climbing: loose sand, roots, palmetto stems and wet ground after summer rain.

The options sort by surface. The inlet trails mix off-road sections with pavement. The St. Sebastian River Preserve trails are long wilderness routes where Florida State Parks recommends only mountain bikes or fat-tire bikes (Florida State Parks). The rail-trail on the Dinky Line corridor is a flat, graded route that crosses Interstate 95 on a pedestrian overpass. Farther west, Fort Drum Wildlife Management Area in southwestern Indian River County lists biking among its activities (FWC).

Sebastian Inlet State Park has three mountain bicycle trails that combine off-road and paved courses, and all three begin and end at the park's Bayside Marina.

Florida State Parks asks riders to check with Bayside Marina staff before venturing out on any trail at Sebastian Inlet State Park (Florida State Parks). The park does not publish trail lengths or names on its amenities page, so the marina is the place where current trail conditions and routes are given out.

Pavement links the trails to the rest of the island. A multi-use paved path runs through Sebastian Inlet State Park parallel to State Road A1A and, in sections, parallel to the Indian River Lagoon, and Florida State Parks describes it as a 40-mile-long path with numerous beach access points. Because it follows A1A through the park, the path is the paved connection between Bayside Marina, the beach access points and the Sebastian Inlet Bridge.

The inlet park is the only one of the off-road options near Sebastian open around the clock. Under the Florida State Parks fee schedule, Sebastian Inlet State Park never closes, staying open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and admission is $2 for pedestrians and bicyclists, $4 for a single-occupant vehicle and $8 per vehicle for two to eight people (Florida State Parks hours and fees). A cyclist who rides in pays the $2 rate rather than the vehicle fee.

At St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Florida State Parks recommends only mountain bikes or fat-tire bikes and bans off-trail riding to protect rare and endangered plants and animals.

The bike advice comes from the trail surface. Florida State Parks describes wilderness trail conditions at the St. Sebastian River Preserve that include soft sand, logs, palmetto stems and natural vegetation (Florida State Parks). Those conditions are why the park steers riders to wide tires. The preserve's 60 miles of trails are split equally between Brevard and Indian River counties, and most are very long, which the park says makes them better suited to horseback riding, mountain biking and extended hikes than short walks.

Staying on the trail is a rule, not a courtesy. The park states that no off-trail biking is permitted because of the rare and endangered species of plants and animals protected on the preserve. The scrub on the Indian River County side, 1 mile west of Interstate 95 off County Road 512, is where the park directs visitors looking for Florida scrub-jays, and the red-cockaded woodpecker areas lie on the northeast side near Stumper Flats.

Timing and cost at St. Sebastian River Preserve are simple. Riding starts at 8 a.m. and ends at sunset every day of the year, and Florida State Parks says there are currently no entrance fees (Florida State Parks hours and fees). Both entrance gates, on County Road 512 and County Road 507, lock at sunset, so a long ride west of the Sebastian Highlands and Roseland has to finish before dark. Florida State Parks also tells all visitors to bring water and sun protection, and the same trails carry horses, since most of the preserve network is open to riders on horseback as well as on bikes.

The rail-trail between Sebastian and Fellsmere follows the bed of the Dinky Line, a steam railroad of the Trans-Florida Central Railroad that ran between Sebastian and the outer edges of Fellsmere in the early 1900s.

Planning for the trail goes back more than a decade. Vero News reported on Sept. 17, 2012 that 12 miles of the graded path once used by Dinky Line locomotives were being converted into trails for hikers and mountain bikers, and that the Rails to Trails project ranked first in the Indian River County Metropolitan Planning Organization Greenways Plan of August 2008, with a score of 93 out of 100 (Vero News). The same report described County Road 512 as a fast corridor that is not welcoming to pedestrians or cyclists, one reason the separated trail scored so high.

The key link opened later. Sebastian Daily reported on Nov. 13, 2018 that the Central Florida Railroad Trail had held its dedication ceremony at the Fellsmere Trailhead Preserve and Welcome Center, that the trail includes 2 miles of paths, and that the Greenway Pedestrian Overpass sits just north of the Sebastian exit on Interstate 95 (Sebastian Daily). The paper gave the trail's location as 11090 County Road 512 in Fellsmere and noted limited paved parking with overflow parking on grass.

The 2012 and 2018 figures describe different things. The 12 miles in the Vero News report is the planned corridor along the old Dinky Line, while the 2 miles in the Sebastian Daily report is the built path at the 2018 dedication. Neither source describes technical singletrack, so the rail-trail is a gravel and paved riding route rather than a trail of the St. Sebastian River Preserve type.

Beyond the two state parks near Sebastian, Fort Drum Wildlife Management Area and most St. Johns River Water Management District lands allow cycling, and Florida law requires helmets for riders under 16.

Cycling is one of the main uses the St. Johns River Water Management District names for its conservation land west of Vero Beach and Fellsmere: in the district's words, the majority of District lands provide trails that are suitable for cycling or horseback riding, and most District lands are open for non-vehicular recreational activities 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (St. Johns River Water Management District). Its properties west of Fellsmere along the upper St. Johns River marshes are the nearest of these to Sebastian. The district asks visitors to look for signs at each entrance for maintenance, construction or storm damage.

Fort Drum is the largest of them in Indian River County. FWC lists wildlife viewing, horseback riding, hiking, biking and paddling at the nearly 21,000-acre area, which is open year round except during special-opportunity hunts, when only permit holders may be there (FWC). FWC requires a special-opportunity permit to hunt Fort Drum during deer and spring turkey season and a quota permit for its scheduled hog hunts, so those hunt dates decide when cyclists from Sebastian and Fellsmere can ride there.

Helmet rules are statewide. Section 316.2065, Florida Statutes, requires a bicycle rider or passenger who is under 16 years of age to wear a properly fitted bicycle helmet, fastened by a strap, that meets the federal safety standard in 16 C.F.R. part 1203 (Florida Senate). The Sebastian Inlet State Park and St. Sebastian River Preserve pages phrase the rule as applying to cyclists age 16 and under and recommend helmets for every rider; the statute's own wording is under 16.