Story by Nixon

Photos by Dainius Barysas

Sure, it’s hard to find. Tucked in behind the Gratigny Parkway, just beyond the Opa-locka Executive Airport, way out in Hialeah…

Never been there? Why would you?

Almost seven miles of pure single-track bliss—that’s why.

Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah may have one of the smaller mountain bike-designated areas in South Florida but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in tenacity, and beauty.

The trail is located off the dirt road at the back of the park. Though it borders the highway, in no time you disappear into the dense foliage. This trail has it all: sawgrass, palm trees of numerous varies, ferns lining the track, thick vines, the standard melaleuca and Australian pines, and flowers all over the trailside.

But the real beauty is the thin single track that winds through, over, under, around, up and down. Well-crafted bridges, turns on top of turns, tight nasties and long grip-happy turns, ridge runners, banks and berms. The trail crew In Da House has turned this place from the Dark Ages into an Enchanted Forest.

A big wooden sign beside some picnic tables and a grill signify the start of the trail. It’s six inches wide here, cut perfectly into a 10-foot wide grass clearing that’s 200 meters long. I pick up speed fast here, and gently wind past the trees. I race up onto a gentle roller, seeing car tires lining the trail like on an old speedway to keep people from shooting off the trail.

A couple of minutes later the whole scene has changed. The trail becomes black, with year-round water pooling off to the side. Brown pine needles blanket the floor and the black trail winds farther into a dense melaleuca grove.

The trail turns a lot more, and puts me into a canopy of trees that is just inches above my helmet. The path dips up and down, around some long opened turns, with wheel-sucking roots strewn all over.

Yes!

Back into the open I pass a hazardous materials barrel near more “speedway” wheels, and this takes me into a hard left-hander then up and over a five-foot hump. As soon as I’m up I’m coming straight back down again, and fast. I think this is Chupacabra Trail.

There are rumors regarding the Chupacabra, a mythical creature that sucks the blood from goats in Latin America. It’s laughable in the parking lot, though not as funny here on the trail with the wind howling through the tops of the trees, and all sorts of unseen things rustling in the tall grass off either side. No kidding.

My favorite part of the trail down is the long, winding back-to-back turns through the sawgrass. I can go just about as fast as you want, and between turns, the feeling of weightlessness when transferring from left to right is something I can never get used to. And I love that feeling.

Coming out into another section, we hit Coffee Trail, where the heavy, warm aroma of Pilon, a Cuban espresso, overcomes the senses. It’s nice to have the mind wander when riding, but it doesn’t last long as the trail winds uphill (in Miami?) again, and dive-bombs back out toward the back hill.

The back hill is way back there. The trail launches me right into the open and for a good five minutes I’m in the Miami sun. The trail leads me onto three separate assaults on this hill, each one completely different. The first puts me fast and furious onto a zigzag course three-quarters of the way up, and then back down. On the second time up I’m blasting up and over onto a carpeted swan dive and onto a narrow ridge that turns right. On my third time I face a sandy sidewinder that puts me back to the top and sweeps, again in sand, back down and off the back hill.

Seconds later I’m on a dirt road, take a sharp and a very loose right-hander, then I’m back into sawgrass that’s eight feet high. More of those winders I love!

Straight up an eight-foot rise, and back down right into the melaleuca, the scenery change is instant, and the cooling canopy well appreciated, though curses at the merciless heat are now fired directly onto turns that are so tight that I have to slow my speed into single digits.

After a brief few miles in the back section we come back to the lake. Bridging over the grass road, I’m right into some old sections and some brand new ones. This section of the park has sparse tree density but the technical aspect of riding derives from the angles and pitches at which the trail runs.

I sail down into a couple of pseudo-gullies and crest almost effortlessly on the other side. I hit a lot of out-of-the-saddle humps and short power-burst climbs, and loose coral rock makes the turns icy.

I head into a clearing and huge logs guide us onto a climb that’s easily 40 feet long and almost 20 feet high. After hammering the pedals, the trail becomes a plethora of twists and uphill switchbacks with turns that are atop peaks where the trail’s direction is hidden until I’m already heading down!

The fern-lined single track begins to straighten out so my speed ramps up again. A hairpin left washes me right into the parking lot where I began.

Short, but sweet. Maintained by the best around. Cool even on the hottest days. Sure, it’s hard to find, but most jewels are.