Pros
Easy to find
Variety of trails
Water view
Picnic area
Benches
Some stroller friendly trails
Cons
Narrow stone stairs to lake
Not all trails labeled
Some labeled trails weren’t labeled on map
Getting to the Trail
It’s easy to find this park. Right at the bottom of the hill before the hospital is a little dirt drive on the right which has parking for the park.
It was a hot afternoon so I wanted to take my little one on a short and shaded hike. Most of the trails are shaded. Right after the gate the trail splits, but there’s no signage. I took the right path, which splits again but there are signs. The only problem I found with this park is that the trail names on the signs were not all listed on my trusty map. So it was a mini adventure. I continued right onto the Carriage Road because the Juniper Hill Trail comes out onto a road and doesn’t connect to any other trails.
The trail is wide and flat. You could easily bring a regular stroller for the first section of the carriage road which is hard packed dirt and no roots.
The path meanders up and down some small hills and there’s even a bench to look out at a ravine on your left. Even in the summer there was water down below.
As you continue on you find yourself in a large clearing which I thought would make a great picnic spot or place for little ones to play. It only takes about ten minutes or less to get to this section.
Most trails that branch off from this area can still be used with a stroller, but an all terrain stroller might be better. There aren’t many roots and the path is still wide. I continued to the far left and found myself at a cute bridge over a dried up stream. There were different trails and they weren’t labeled but were on the map. I ventured up the hill and found myself back at the car after going on the county road loop.
So I walked back to the picnic area and walked to the trail past the shelter. This trail had rock stairs and was narrow. It was short though, and within a few minutes I was met with a lovely lake and a gravel road which goes around the lake.
You could definitely take your stroller on this road, but not on the trail from the woods. There’s another parking area off State Street you could use if you wanted to do a stroller walk. It was too hot to walk around the lake because it wasn’t shaded so I don’t know how far the access road goes.
I enjoyed my mini adventure. All the trails were short and make for a great walk on a hot day. Even though there are hills through the park, they’re not long or steep. I’d definitely enjoy going back and walking around the lake when it’s not so hot (you can’t swim or boat on the lake).
For updates on the trails see this link.
Have you ever been to the park during other seasons?
