Thursday, November 17, 2022
Timpoochee Trail, WaterColor
Just east of Destin, the Timpoochee Trail runs for 19 miles along Scenic Highway 30A, hugging the Gulf Coast as it passes through three state parks, a state forest, and makes its way past rare dune lakes and popular oceanfront communities.
After a short stop at Dune Allen Beach, we parked our car at the Ed Walline Public Beach Access at mile 3.4 and planned to ride as far as the trail's midpoint in Seaside, after which there are far more road and driveway crossings and increased congestion.
Dune Allen Beach
Redneck Riviera cruiser
Coastal dune lakes are some of the rarest bodies of water in the world and are found in only a few places, including Madagascar, Australia, and here in South Walton. A coastal dune lake is a permanent body of water in a dune system within a couple of miles of the coast and having a transitory connection with the sea. The amount of fresh and saltwater in each lake varies, creating unique biological environments.
Covered bridge at Draper Lake
Draper Lake
Alligator Lake
Western Lake
After crossing Western Lake, we turned off the Timpoochee Trail to explore the beautiful but peculiar planned community of WaterColor. WaterColor's Cerulean Park was immaculately landscaped and already decorated for Christmas. How festive! It was like something out of a fairy tale.
WaterColor, Florida
Cerulean Park
Christmas fairyland
WaterColor was perfect (too perfect) and quiet (too quiet). Everything was gorgeous, with not a blade of grass out of place, but the overly idyllic atmosphere gave me a slightly creepy “Stepford Wives” vibe. We liked the place but were satisfied to be moving on forever after a single hour.
By the way, I checked some real estate listings later, and if this is your kind of place, a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo is gonna set you back a cool $2 mil, not to mention the $1,484 per month HOA.
WaterColor Frog Pool
WaterColor homes on Western Lake
The community's quiet streets and nature trails are very bicycle friendly. My front tire started to lose air again (the same one as yesterday), but I was able to make it to a loaner-bike repair shop, where I was allowed to use their compressor. Thank you!
Since fixing the bike flat yesterday, I no longer had a spare tube, so we turned back after WaterColor, just shy of our planned turnaround point of Seaside. It was just as well, as we could already see the increased foot-traffic just ahead. I had to stop for air twice more on the return trip, but I was able to ride all the way, without ever having to walk the bike. Shwew!
Bike art
After loading up the bikes, we walked across 30A to the Growler Bar taphouse, where we had a couple of Reve coffee stouts, made by Parish Brewing Company out of Broussard, Louisiana. Best coffee stout ever!
Post-ride beer
On our way back to Destin, we stopped at two Walmarts to try to replace my busted tire tube before finding the correct tube size and valve-stem style at Dick's Sporting Goods. I bought two. After heating up last night's leftovers for dinner, we brought my bike up to the room and replaced the tube yet again. An in-depth examination of the tire and rim revealed nothing amiss. What the heck?!
Lodging: Wingate by Wyndham in Destin, night two.
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