Tour of The Pinellas Trail - Part 3

The last leg of the Pinellas Trail tour covers the southern section - Seminole down into downtown St. Petersburg. I picked up where I left off last time, and it turned into one of the best rides of the series: gorgeous weather, a proper downtown skyline finish, and a wrap-up look at what makes this whole trail worth riding.

Starting at Seminole City Park

I started this leg at Seminole City Park - a genuinely beautiful spot, with a lake, a guy reeling in a fish nearby, and a crowd of white ibis that were completely comfortable walking right up to me. It's about where I left off on the previous ride, and with great weather to work with, it was the perfect place to kick off the final stretch down to the waterfront in St. Petersburg.

Pacing the Overpasses

The southern end of the trail is where the overpasses stack up - I counted the fourth one in about seven miles at one point. If the middle section trained you to expect road crossings, this section flips the script: fewer stoplight waits, but more short, steady climbs over busy streets. Worth pacing yourself for.

Into Downtown St. Petersburg

About a mile from the end of the trail, the St. Petersburg downtown skyline comes into view, and you roll right past Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. There are some genuinely good lunch spots directly on the trail through here - I've stopped at one a few times and the food's always solid, plus there's a Saturday market in the area worth timing your ride around if you can.

The trail wraps up at Waterfront Park in downtown St. Petersburg - sailboats, open water, a proper finish line for the whole 45-mile route.

Wrapping Up the Pinellas Trail

Standing at that finish line felt like the right place to sum up the whole trail. If you're the type who wants to hold 18+ mph and just go and go without stopping, this probably isn't your trail. But if you want a place to tour, take in different scenery, hit up businesses and parks along the way, and just let the route take you somewhere new every time you come back - the Pinellas Trail delivers that in a way few trails do. You could ride it over and over and still find something you hadn't noticed before.

One more tip before you turn around and head back north: don't skip the spur trail to Gulfport. It's another waterfront community with nice restaurants, waterfront views, and a marina - about a mile or two one way - and it's an easy add-on if you've got the legs left for it.

That closes out the three-part tour of the Pinellas Trail - from John Chestnut Park in the north, through the downtowns of Dunedin and Clearwater, and all the way down to the St. Petersburg waterfront. If you're anywhere near Pinellas County, it's worth riding start to finish at least once.