By Liam Miller
For years Orange and Seminole counties have stolen Osceola’s trail thunder, but that’s quickly changing with Shingle Creek Trail under construction and Kissimmee Loop Trail mostly complete.
Kissimmee Loop Trail is a 7.8-mile rectangle that will hook into Shingle Creek Trail once that behemoth is finished. The 32-mile Shingle Creek Trail will parallel the creek from Lake Tohopekaliga north to Pine Hills but will be built in segments. Design and/or construction are in progress now from the lake north to the Orange County line, and Orange is planning its segments as well.
But back to Kissimmee Loop Trail. This urban and suburban path runs east 3 miles from the northern end of Warbird Boulevard to Central Avenue, then becomes a sidewalk along Central going south 1 mile to MLK Jr. Boulevard, then turns west and gains bike lanes along MLK for 1 mile to Thacker Avenue, where the paved trail restarts along the northern side of MLK and goes 2 miles west to shady Shingle Creek Regional Park — Steffee Landing, where you can hike miles of trails and rent canoes or kayaks.
From there, the trail in early 2016 will go under U.S. 192 along Shingle Creek and go a half-mile north back to the connection at Warbird Boulevard, but during construction, you’ll have to take a sidewalk along U.S. 192 east to Hoagland Boulevard, cross, and take the sidewalk north a half-mile to where the loop trail crosses Hoagland.
Crossings for the trail are generally busy: Be careful.
Copyright © 2015, Orlando Sentinel
