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Cypress Trail

1K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  jtmartin57 
#1 ·
I tried searching but it returned no results.

Is this the trail in Sumter that starts over at Dillon Park? If so, is it complete? I want to get back on my bike and get my daughter involved with riding. Because she's really inexperienced, I want to get her comfortable with easy terrain so this was the first place that came to mind, but the last time I tried to ride it (5 years ago) I had a hard time figuring out where it went (there was hardly any trail and no markings).
 
#3 ·
Thanks. Flat is good for now. She's never ridden any kind of elevation or distance, so I want to get her comfortable on a bike, first (assuming I can ever find a deal on one...). The last time I rode it was in '06, and I don't think it was anywhere near 5mi at that time. Is it at least marked now? I don't mind fighting some weeds if we at least know where to go.
 
#5 ·
FATS will be too hard for her, I'm sure, though I would like to get back there soon (I helped work on the trail, then was there for the grand opening 5 years ago).

I just got back from Cypress Trail and... it's still poorly marked. I started out from Dillon Park, went up along the golf course, crossed N Wise, made my way up that field by BD, then crossed Jefferson Rd. I was following the trail and then crossed a small bridge and kept going straight on a high bank that followed a creek. I saw a lady walking 4 or 5 dogs and she said, "Oh, I was trying to get away from you guys", which indicated to me that there was at least one other biker that had come through there (though I saw none). A hundred yards more, or so, and the trail (if you could even call it that) just seemed to end. I'll keep the story short and just say that I ended up having to push my bike through a half-mile of briars, vines, and thicket (in hindsight I should have just turned around and went back the way I came, but I thought I had found the trail again... I think it was just a deer trail) before I found some ATV tracks that led me to a dirt road by a firing range. I followed that back towards Jefferson, and that got me back on the Cypress Trail.

I probably should have hung a right coming off that bridge, but I couldn't tell that at the time and didn't see any indication that I should.

Also, when I was on the trail, I rode up through Cypress Park and then went up and around where it comes out on Airport Rd. There was a sign for the Cypress Trail affixed to a fence post that seemed to direct me left/North, but as I rode through that grass along the road, there were no more signs of the trail continuing. I turned around and followed the trail back to Dillon Park (this time without getting lost in the woods...). If turning around at that point is the intention, then I think it should be labeled as such so that we're not wandering around looking for where it picks back up again.

I talked to some fella at Dillon while I was loading my bike up and he said it actually loops around the back of the golf course, but how would one know that?
 
#7 ·
That looks about the way I remember it. I never rode out to Airport Rd.... just looped around the pond & doubled back.

If you don't mind driving to Columbia (& riding on pavement!) then I would recommend taking your daughter to Riverfront Park which is a part of the Three Rivers Greenway. This section of the greenway is ~6 mi roundtrip from the parking lot & is really smooth/level & quite scenic as you are riding atop the old canal towpath in between the Columbia Canal & Broad River:
http://www.sctrails.net/trails/ALLTRAILS/Multi-use/RiverfrontPark.html
 
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