Swamp Forest Trail Race

Join Gulf Winds Track Club for the Swamp Forest Trail Run at Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park. The seventh annual event will offer runners a chance to complete a one-loop Quarter Marathon (6.85 mi), two-loop Half Marathon (13.7 mi), or three-loop 20-Mile Challenge (20.55 mi). Proceeds from the event benefit the Tallahassee Friends of Our Parks Foundation, Inc., and One More Child.

About the Course: The Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park Trail is comprised of three main loops: the Swamp Forest Loop, the Coon Bottom Loop, and the Oak Hammock Loop, along with several connecting trails. The race combines these loops into one ~6.5 mile loop. The “half marathon” runners will complete two loops of the course and “full marathon” runners will complete four loops.

* The Swamp Forest Loop runs next to a seepage basin swamp and a profusion of ferns, passes ephemeral ponds, and a Beech-Magnolia forest.

* The Coon Bottom Loop runs beside a clear sand-bottom seepage stream in many places, and passes through Beech-Magnolia and Spruce Pine forests. The trail crosses a black-water stream that drains a seepage basin swamp. Along the north side of the loop, the trail passes through an upland forest.

* The Oak Hammock Loop runs near the shore of Lake Jackson. Deer can often be seen along the edges of open fields. The adjacent fields contain many fenced gopher tortoise holes.

* The Creek Forest Trail runs around the head of a seepage stream, curves around an ephemeral pond, then encounters a series of meander loops of the main stream. There are large patches of Giant Cane and Arundinaria gigantea along the trail.

* The Big Tree Cutoff passes a swamp that contains Pinckneya, Needle Palms and a stand of huge Tulip-Poplars.