Why this ride
Repeated coastal bends, headlands and frequent viewpoint stops. It also links naturally to Florida Big Bend wetlands.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Big Bend Scenic Byway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 159 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 31
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check seasonal gates, park access and state 511 notices before publication. Specific flag: hurricane; heat.
Seasonal context
Oct-Apr
Scenic road chapters
Apalachicola → Carrabelle
34 km on Apalachicola → Carrabelle.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 34 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Tallahassee
Tallahassee became the capital of Florida in 1824 for a reason that had nothing to do with beauty: it lay roughly halfway between the two old colonial towns of Pensacola and St. Augustine, which made it a fair meeting point for legislators travelling by horseback. The result is a capital that feels a world away from beach Florida. It sits among red clay hills and pine woods in the Panhandle, closer in spirit to Georgia than to Miami, and its population of nearly two hundred thousand is dominated by government workers and students from Florida State and Florida A&M universities.
Read the complete Tallahassee write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tallahassee sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Apalachicola.
2. Apalachicola
For a long time, if you ate an oyster in the southern United States, there was a fair chance it came from Apalachicola Bay. The shallow, brackish bay, where the Apalachicola River meets the Gulf of Mexico, produced the great majority of Florida's oysters, and the town of about two thousand people lived by them. Then the reefs collapsed, after years of drought, reduced river flow and overharvesting, and in 2020 the state closed the wild oyster harvest for five years. The oyster boats and the shucking houses are fewer now, and the town is working out what comes next, but the seafood restaurants still serve shrimp, fish and farmed oysters.
Read the complete Apalachicola write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Apalachicola comes up 69 km in. Next is Carrabelle.
3. Carrabelle
Carrabelle claims to have the world's smallest police station, and it is not a joke: for years the local police took calls from a telephone booth on the main road, and the booth is still there, now a roadside curiosity where people stop for a photograph. That sense of humour suits the place, a fishing town of a few thousand people at the mouth of the Carrabelle River on the Gulf coast, with shrimp boats tied up at the docks and a slow, unpretentious pace.
Read the complete Carrabelle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
159 km in you reach Carrabelle.