(Note: Red indicates a link.)
Site: Citrus Wildlife Management Area (WMA)
Addresses for Parking:
Annutteliga Hammock Trailhead, County Road 491, Inverness, Florida
Oak Park North Trailhead, Couty Road 480, Inverness, Florida
Tillis Hill Day Use, 9231 South Trail 13, Inverness, Florida (Fee Required)
Total Area: 49,317 Acres
Camping:
Holder Mine Campground, 3049 East Trail 10, Inverness, Florida 34452 (Bath House, Water,
Electric)
Mutual Mine Campground, 4771 East Trail 16, Inverness, Florida 34452 (Bathrooms/Water)
Annutteliga Hammock (Primitive)
Bath Houses: Holder Mine, bathroom only; Mutual Mine bath house
Surfaces: Sand, mud, clay, gravel
Wet/Mud Potential: Medium
Overall Difficulty: Moderate
Tracks (Click for dot.gpx tracks. Viewer required.)
North Track_CIT_1
South Track_CIT_2
Total Track Recorded: North Track_CIT_1 = 29.4 miles; South Track_CIT_2 = 25.7 miles
Pavement Miles in Track: CIT_1 = 0.5 miles; CIT_2 = 3.6 miles
Forest Roads Speed Limit: 30
Nearby Trail Networks: Croom WMA, Richloam WMA
Fuel is readily available at three locations surrounding the WMA. See the map above for fueling icons.
Purple tracks are hiking and equestrian trails that are off limits to motorized vehicles.
Day use parking is not allowed in the Mutual Mine and Holder Mine Camping Areas.
The Oak Park South and Cowpen Trailheads have parking areas, but trailers are not allowed. Your best bets for trailer parking with a trailer are (i) Annutteliga, (ii) Oak Park North and (iii) Tillis Hills. Tillis Hill requires a fee and use of an Iron Ranger Box.
Click for a download .pdf of the Citrus WMA map.
Trail Network Overview and Review:
The Citrus Wildlife Management Area contains over 120 miles of publicly accessible forest roads in a broad range of conditions. Many of the roads around the camping and day use areas are hard, gravel surfaces for campers and equestrians trailering horses can get in and out. However, the vast majority of the forest roads are either sand covered (some very deep) or rutted, eroded clay-dirt surfaces. The clay can become very slippery in wet conditions even for DOT knobby tread patterns.
We split our track records into two sections for purposes of our review. The North Track (Red) starts and ends at the Holder Mine Campsites and covers 29.4 miles. The South Track (Blue) starts at the Annutteliga Hammock Day Use Area and tracks north up to the Mutual Mine Campsites and covers 25.7 miles. That leave about 65 miles of additional track to explore.
The overall moderate difficulty assessment arises from a combination of a great deal of deep sand and many surfaces that have eroded down to the slippery clay base. Dual sport and adventure riders will want to have their sand game up to par. These two points aside, the Citrus WMA overall is a very enjoyable forest to ride.
Photos
Videos
The following videos are available on our YouTube Channel, Peace Enduro S.A.
These videos provide a good cross section of trail surfaces in the WMA. It should be noted that the video was made in the driest season. The wet season will bring flooding and slippery surfaces.
My apologies in advance about the audio. I'm just getting used to a new GoPro and need to work on the microphone.
Camping
I decided to start camping at the trail networks that I'm visiting and reviewing for this blog. Camping is available in four locations in this area:
- Annutteliga Hammock Day Use: Primitive, tent
- Mutual Mine: Tent, RV, Water, Toilet
- Holder Mine Campsite: Tent, RV, Cement Platforms, Water, Electric, Bathhouse
- Tillis Hill Campsite and Day Use: Tent, RV, Cement Platforms, Water, Electric, Bathhouse
I camped at the Holder Mine Campsite to take advantage of all the amenities; particularly electric. I also visited Tillis and Mutal during my travels; Mutual was actually closed. As for Tillis and Holder, I found them to be outstanding camping facilities. Very clean, very organized, and inexpensive.
The website said that the cost of Holder started at $25 a day, but by time I got registered for two nights the total, including tax and fees, was only $36. I would estimate that under 25% of the sites were occupied.
I would highly recommend taking advantage of the camping facilities within the WMA. It was very enjoyable to have a camp set up right there in the forest.
Trail Network Summary
If you throw camping into your trip to the Citrus WMA, you'll enjoy two days of really good Florida forest road riding. The forest roads are, indeed, very rough and the sand is very deep in many places, but if you can deal with those surfaces it's a good dual sport and adventure location.
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