Exploring the World with Pokémon Go: Southbank Riverwalk
At long last I reached Southbank Riverwalk in downtown Jacksonville. Since the day I moved here I have wanted to explore this area for my travel blog. Let’s dive right in. This was an amazing adventure.
I started with the Southbank Riverwalk. It is the shorter of the two trails and has far fewer parks. In fact, there is only one park on this side and it will be one of the next places I explore. But let’s focus on the trail itself. Downtown Jacksonville is all around me in this images, but many of the tall buildings are on the other side and so from this angle, I got some spectacular pictures, especially with the sunset.
This trail starts by going under the John T. Alsop Jr. Bridge. This is one of the only ways to travel across the Saint Johns River in downtown. Given the bottleneck nature of these bridges, many of the major routes are forced into one place. In this case, this bridge carries US Route 1, US Route 17, and Florida State Road 10. Notably, the first two are major highways that follow Interstate 95 all the way along the Atlantic Coast.
Back to the trail, The Southbank Riverwalk has quite a bit of art to draw the eye while walking along the river. Not only does the ground itself have things to see, but the walls are filled with murals. Under the bridge, I spent some time looking at the above image of art. Sadly, my other pictures of that mural ended up too blurry and I will not be posting them.
Beyond the Bridge:
As I continued down the Southbank Riverwalk many of my pictures continued to focus on the city skyline. This happened because I try to avoid having other people appear in my photos. Not pictured is the many people also using the trail. With Covid restrictions easing up, many more people are going outside after being trapped at home.
I tried taking a few pictures of the other side of downtown Jacksonville. I’ll probably get better pictures when I travel to the North Riverbank but I decided not to leave this side out. It can be hard for someone simply looking at these pictures to figure out which ones are of the south side of the city. The easiest way to tell will be when I go to the other side of the river.
Benches line the entire path. There are plenty of spots to sit down and relax. This entire walk is about a mile ion each direction. Since many people have been trapped at home for the last year and a half, that can sound like a large distance. Plenty of people sat on the benches as I traveled down Southbank Riverwalk. I had to choose my pictures with care.
Unique Architecture:
There was plenty more to see as I continued down the Southbank Riverwalk. From the statues to unique buildings, there was simply no end for things for my eyes to be drawn to. I was excited every step of the way from beginning to end.
I realized as I uploaded my pictures that I broke one of my rules by accident. One of my roommates came with me on this adventure. And her reflection shows up in one of the images above. I only posted that picture with her permission. That is how I do damage control.
I was a bit surprised how long it took for me to find maps of the Riverwalk. Maybe I missed one or two on the way here. All I know for sure is that the one pictured above was the first that I found. And it was roughly half way down.
This section of the Riverwalk finally had something truly unique that wasn’t on the other side of the river. High rises and restaurants with unique windows dotted the landscape just to my side. And you might also notice that I photographed the ground a few times. Those lights are pretty neat. They change colors when it gets dark. I only figured this out later though when it finally got dark.
One other thing I want to draw attention to now before I forget. You might notice a certain building or mass of buildings across the river that I keep photographing. That is TIAA Field, also known as the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. For all the football fans reading this, yes the stadium exists. Also yes, the Jaguars actually have fans.
The Other End:
Continuing my journey down Southbank Riverwalk revealed more of the same. But is hardly a bad thing here. As I have pointed out many times already, the scenery here is breathtaking. Coming here around sunset only made that more clear.
I did find a few new things though. The first was a ferry taxi across the river. I’m not sure if these are active at the moment since we are still in a pandemic. Once we finally move past Covid 19 though, I am sure these will be fully operational again.
You can see one of the other bridges that crosses the Saint Johns River into Jacksonville. This time its the Hart Bridge. And it carries Alternate Us Route 1 and Florida State Road 228 into downtown.
The more time I spent here, the more I enjoyed it. This is an amazing place to walk or relax after a long day. I’m disappointed that it took me this long to travel here.
As I reached the end of Southbank Riverwalk, I gave myself some time to enjoy the sunset. As the light reflected off the buildings and water, I remembered why this is my favorite time of day. The world calms down as it transitions from day to night. People start making their plans and are relieved that half the day or more is finished.
When I reached the end, I walked out onto one of the piers so I could be out on the Saint Johns River. The dock even bobbed a little in the gentle waves. The river itself flows very slowly and the ways are small if almost nonexistent.
I had a lot of fun here. So I can’t wait to explore the nearby parks and the even longer Northbank Riverwalk.
Pokémon Go:
I have shown at length Southbank Riverwalk in the real world. So how does a place with tons of landmarks and a winding trail near multiple biomes end up being as far as Pokémon Go Viability? As incredible as you would expect.
The image above is only half of the trail. I had constant spawns, some of them rare almost every step of the way. There is never a point where a Pokestop or Gym is not in range. Some of the gyms are EX Raid viable and when this pandemic ends, will be an important place to visit.
All in all, if you want breathtaking walks, and incredible spawn points in Pokémon Go, you can’t go wrong with this place. There is plenty of nearby food and parking. Areas to explore are plentiful. This is peak Pokémon Go in Jacksonville. Make sure to come here.
Munna is a Pokémon that deals with dreams. Visiting this place was a dream come true for me. Southside Riverbank is one of my favorite places in Jacksonville. Its only rivaled by the other bank.
Here I am at Southbank Riverwalk. I moved away from the large crowds so I could get a selfie without my mask on. I also made sure to have the Jaguars stadium behind me.
At the end of my Southbank Riverwalk adventure, I helped defeat a Xerneas Raid remotely. Though it says I caught this in Maitland, I was standing at the Riverwalk.
Wrap Up:
All in all, this adventure was well worth the wait. It might be a few days before I explore the Northbank though. I just got my second Covid Vaccine and I might get sick for a day or two. Once I am healthy, I’ll be completing the journey as fast as I can. In les than a week, I’m moving back to Orlando.