Friends of the Withlacoochee State Trail

Explore old-Florida charm along the 47-mile, well-kept, multi-use, paved Withlacoochee State Trail.

ABOUT US

Friends of the Withlacoochee State Trail are a Citizen Support Organization (CSO) dedicated to promoting, supporting and helping to maintain and make improvements for the Withlacoochee State Trail. They accomplish these things by providing public education and outreach programs, holding fundraising events, sale of merchandise and by donating their time and talents to make sure that visitors to the Withlacoochee State Trail have a great experience. Meeting dates are the second Thursday of February, April, September and November.

The Withlacoochee State Trail is a 47-mile long, 12-foot wide, paved multi-use rail trail, which opened for use in 1992. The trail is currently one of the longest Rail Trail in the State of Florida. Horseback riding is available adjacent to the paved trail. The trail extends from just south of Dunnellon, FL at the Hwy. 41 underpass to its southern end at Owensboro Junction Trailhead, which is 6 miles north of Dade City, FL on Hwy. 301. The Withlacoochee State Trail meanders through small towns and through the beautiful Withlacoochee State Forest.

CSO CODE OF ETHICS

BY-LAWS

SAVE the DATE!

The Withlacoochee State Trail 28th Annual Ride will be held on October 5, 2025.

The Withlacoochee State Trail was just awarded #2 “Best Outdoor Recreational Trail in the USA” by a people’s choice poll by USA Today.

This year marks the 100th birthday of our iconic 1925 all wooden caboose. The WST 28th Annual Fall Ride will help support the restoration of this rare American cupola caboose. Please donate to the link below to help restore our historic icon of days past when railroads ran the entire country.

https://www.fotwst.org/donate

Join us in the quaint town of Inverness, Florida, the Small Town Done Right, that was just awarded the #3 “Best Small Town in the South”.

The Friends of the Withlacoochee State Trail have successfully renovated all of the bathrooms on the trail and re-paved major sections of the historic ‘Rails to Trails’ that were in need of repair to make your ride even more smooth.

Registration for this special event will be announced soon. At that time, we will have some new special announcements of this year’s groundbreaking event that you won’t want to miss.

And of course we’ll have our famous cookies, snacks and water at the SAG stops. As always, we have a soft start from 7-9 am for all riders 24, 48, 5 mile fun ride, and our Century riders who will get a completion certificate for completing the 100-mile ride. But as always you go at your own pace and your own distance.

We will be having a pizza dinner the night before for our volunteers. All riders staying over for the night before are welcome to join us at a location to be announced.

Included in the ride this year will be a limited edition 2025 specially designed shirt with our caboose to celebrate its hundredth birthday, limited to the first 500 registered cyclists.

Go to FOTWST.org and sign up for email contact so you’re notified about the registration and the exciting new things we are planning for the October 5th.

We look forward to another memorable day with you biking with the Friends of the Withlacoochee State Trail. Happy Trails. ~Tom Craig, President, FOTWST

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