Cumberland Island National Seashore | PARALLEL TRAIL TO STAFFORD BEACH

Parallel Trail Map (click to enlarge)

Parallel Trail Map (click to enlarge)

Length: 3.6 miles, one way (starts at Sea Camp)
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy

I hiked fifteen of approximately twenty-two trails at Cumberland Island National Seashore, and I can tell you that unless you want exercise or are dead set on covering all trails in the park, there’s no reason to hike most of them. With the exception of the Nightingale Trail, they aren’t particularly challenging or scenic, and some are overgrown and tick-infested. The only reason to hike the trails is to get somewhere, and in that regard, the Parallel Trail is one of the most useful in the park. Take this trail if you want to get to Little Greyfield Beach, Stafford Beach, Stafford Campground, or the Hickory Hill Campsite. The trail as an alternative to walking on Grand Avenue, the main road through the park.

Grand Avenue trailhead for the Parallel Trail on Cumberland Island

Grand Avenue trailhead for the Parallel Trail on Cumberland Island

You can get to the Parallel Trail in two ways from the Sea Camp dock. If you walk out to Grand Avenue, there is a shortcut that takes you to it; look for the sign. The official trailhead is at the Sea Camp Campground, which is just a quarter mile or so from Grand Avenue down the campground trail. I started from Grand Avenue, and it is a .3-mile walk to where the shortcut trail meets up with the official Parallel Trail. There is a sign at the intersection: travel in the direction marked “PT.”

Follow the PT signs to hike the Parallel Trail on Cumberland Island

Follow the PT signs to hike the Parallel Trail on Cumberland Island

The terrain at the southern end of the Parallel Trail is the same as on the aforementioned Nightingale Trail, and thus some of the prettiest in the park. The trail starts off in an enchanted live oak and saw palmetto forest. It is wide and well maintained and one of the most hiked trails in the park.

Live oak and saw palmetto forest on Cumberland Island's Parallel Trail

Live oak and saw palmetto forest on Cumberland Island’s Parallel Trail

The trail crosses three roads. The first is a private road, and it comes at .7 mile into the hike. Just prior to this road is an unnamed intersection with a trail on your left. This is just another spur trail that connects from Grand Avenue to the Parallel Trail.

Intersection of the Parallel Trail and a private road, Cumberland Island National Seashore

Intersection of the Parallel Trail and a private road, Cumberland Island National Seashore

The second road is at the 1.2-mile point. This is a private road that leads to the beach used by the guests of the Greyfield Inn, a very expensive private inn and the only place to stay on Cumberland Island other than the campgrounds.

Intersection with the second road that the Parallel Trail crosses, Cumberland Island National Seashore

Intersection with the second road that the Parallel Trail crosses, Cumberland Island National Seashore

The third road, at 1.9 mile from the start of the hike, leads to Little Greyfield Beach, a beach open to everyone (it is not connected to the Greyfield Inn). The scenery changes drastically north of the road. No longer are you in the live oak and saw palmetto forest. Here you start to see pine trees and brush covering the forest floor. There are still some live oaks, but not as many as there are at the southern end of the island. This is what I meant by the scenery not being particularly interesting, and this is what you find more and more as you make your way towards the northern boundary of Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Pine forest along the Parallel Trail north of the road to Little Greyfield Beach on Cumberland Island

Pine forest along the Parallel Trail north of the road to Little Greyfield Beach on Cumberland Island

Shortly after passing the road to Little Greyfield Beach is an intersection with a trail that branches off to the left. This is another one of those spur trails that leads over to Grand Avenue. I did not check it out, but it is probably a quarter mile to the road at the most.

At 2.8 miles into the hike is the intersection with the Pratts Trail, and this is where my review of the Parallel Trail ends. Taking a right on the Pratts Trail will send you northeast to the Stafford Campground and Beach, which was my destination. If you stay straight on the Parallel Trail, the next intersection is the bike and vehicle road to Stafford, and after that you will cross one more private road before having an uninterrupted stretch of trail that finally ends at the Willow Pond Trail, passing the Hickory Hill backcountry campsite along the way. Be aware that when crossing the road to Stafford that the trail does not continue directly on the other side. You must take a right on the road and walk a hundred yards or so before you will come to where the trail continues north.

Intersection of the Parallel and Pratts trails, Cumberland Island National Seashore

Intersection of the Parallel and Pratts trails, Cumberland Island National Seashore

See the Pratts Trail review for more information on that portion of the hike to Stafford Campground.

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Last updated on July 26, 2024
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