Hey there everyone! Life has been rather busy again (for a while now) and recreational riding has been at a minimum. I've covered a few new ones here and there, but most of the "fun" riding has been going over old rides with my fiancee' while she's on her new-to-her GS500E. So without further ado, here is the latest installation!
The County Road 13 ride is an extension of the San Jose ride. If you're coming from the north on San Jose, head down to where SR16 intersects with it. This is where we will start our ride today. Simply enough, we are going to stay on this road for the duration.
For the first part of this ride you will enjoy some nice scenery, but you will also have to deal with local traffic taking the back way to St Augustine. Traffic will split of on the rest of 16 soon enough, so you won't have to negotiate it for too long. After you go through the light where 16 and 13 meet, you can now relax and take it all in. Shortly after the light, the world famous Outback Crab Shack will be on your right. Get comfortable now, because it will be nothing but residences on either side for the rest of the ride. There are some nice curves throughout, but I can not emphasize enough how ROUGH this road is. I do not recommend speeding through this one, but rather taking it easy and pacing yourself with the speed limit. Roots and old roads are abound, so keep an eye out and enjoy the beautiful houses, tree cover, and views of the river. Our ride will end when 13 dead ends into 207. Take a left and you start heading towards the southern reaches of St Augustine. Head right and 207 will take you to to Palatka.
From point A to point B, this ride last for approximately 45 minutes and all of about 26 miles.
I'd give this one a 4 out of 5 twists of the throttle. The scenery is beautiful and the road is nice and twisty, but traffic at the beginning of the trip can be a little overwhelming.
Update: The rough portions of this road have been repaved and it is glorious. Nice and smooth throughout. Also, Outback Crab Shack is no longer there after a hurricane caused the river to rise enough to essentially destroy it. The .GPX file starts a little farther up the road at Woodpeckers BBQ. It's a perfect place to grab some grub before or after this ride. Enjoy!
Follow this link to dualsportmaps.com for the downloadable .GPX file.
