| Name: | Day 1 - Key Largo to Layton | 
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| Description: | We started in Key Largo right out of our accomodation at Marina Del Mar, following a city paved trail around the sports park. The trail disappeared near the US-1 and we did a search loop around a few businesses until we noticed the FKOHT crossing of the eastbound US-1 from the Atlantic side to the median. The trail in the median is newly reconstructed and quite nice. Even the stop signs for vehicular cross-traffic are before the trail. However, there was quite a lot of driveways and businesses in the way and most drivers had no idea they can expect a cyclist on the path. On top of that, they were standing right in the path waiting for a break in the busy US-1, despite the stop sign before the path and crosswalk signage on the pavement. I get quite mad by such a show of inconsideration which had Shelly wondering how will the whole trip develop. In a few miles we left Key Largo, the newly reconstructed path ended and one had to cross US-1 to the Bay side. The trail narrowed to ca. 6 ft, which is fairly typical for most of the existing trail that has not been improved lately. There were a few crossings of US-1 as the trail changed sides of the road. With no traffic signal, it was an exercise in patience waiting for a break in the traffic. Luckily, the scenery improved from semi-trashy businesses along the highway in Key Largo to a tropical vegetation right next to the trail with occasional peaks at the water. We stopped at Founders Park at mm 85 to use the restrooms, they charge entry fee but the booth was closed so we just peed and rode off. After that followed a first few miles on the road. Fortunately, the shoulder was 4-5 ft so it was fairly comfortable. After that followed a section of buffered bike lane which was quite pleasant. Then came a first few bridges, with reasonably wide (3-4 ft) shoulders. The views now offered a lot of vistas towards the sea on both sides of the road. Throughout Islamorada, there were sections of old narrow trail, at points we chose to ride that, at others we stayed on the shoulder which seemed safer than risking a collision with cars pulling in and out of driveways. Overall, there are major issues with the trail users being cut off by the driveway traffic. The only thing apart from driver education that I can think of improving the situation would probably be to make all the driveway crossings at higher grade to make drivers more aware of the trail. On Lower Matecumbe Key and the causeways past it is a good trail on the Bay side with stunning views on the blue waters, palms, etc. Then came the first restored historic bridge - channel 2. It was quite fun to ride through it, unfortunately, there was quite a few fishermen who did not use the extended fishing platforms so we had to be careful passing them. The second bridge, channel 5, has a break in it so we had to use the highway, the shoulder was comfortable, about 8 ft, and the tailwinds made it a quick passage. Then we continued another few miles on the shoulder to our first overnight stop at the Lime Tree Bay Resort, arriving a bit early for the check in, we had a lunch and hanged out at their nice grounds. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
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| Total Distance: | 32.44 miles (52.20 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 3:34:08 (2:13:11 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 891 feet (272 m) |
| Total Descending: | 688 feet (210 m) |
| Average Speed: | 14.61 mph (23.52 kph) |
