I'm glad it happened, though. Lord Hill Park is a neat discovery. Nearly 1,500 acres of trails, just 12 miles from home! After a crazy-busy session of writing tests this morning, I had some lunch and headed out for my first visit.
One thing that's different about Lord Hill is that several of the trails allow equestrians. I haven't walked in a mixed-use horse-and-people area since Redmond, where my typical route to the office included some horse stomping grounds. There are separate entrances for horses and people, and they make sure you know if only people are allowed.
I saw five or so of these and couldn't figure out what the deal was. The boardwalks on the right are closed.
I have two theories. The first is that the ones on the left are replacements, and they decided it'd be cheaper to leave the old ones with signs saying they're closed instead of demolishing and removing them. On the way back out, I finally saw this next to one of them.
My second theory is that the ones on the right used to be for horses and that horses used to be allowed at the main entrance, and that there used to be a picture of a horse where something's obviously missing.
This is one of the few parks I've been in around here that's got maps posted. This was handy, even though I eventually realized a lot of stuff is newer than the map is.
Based on what I read beforehand and what I saw on the map, I decided the West View trail would be a good choice for my first visit. The view I was after, however, is a bit overgrown now.
Sharing the trail with horses means you have to watch your step.
Glad I was keeping an eye out as this guy was just chillin' right where I might have stepped right on him. His friends were very noisy all over the trail today.
To make a long story short, the way back to the car was interesting because I:
- Was smart and checked Google maps at a fork in the road
- Was less smart later on and didn't check at a fork, and had to double back
- Decided one trail would be a good choice for a subsequent visit
- Ended up unexpectedly returning via that trail from the other side of the hill
One thing I wasn't expecting to see was a big concrete building and a trailer in the middle of nowhere. Turns out there are some communication towers up there.
I love trees covered in bright green moss, and this place didn't disappoint.
4.13 miles in 1:39, 8,889 steps, 397ft gain
I choose OpenStreet view for this map to show how little of this place I've seen so far. All those blue lines are more trails and they go way off out of the frame. I'm looking forward to going back, but it'll probably be Sundays so I can do longer walks and get a better return on the longer drive time.
I was smart this time and created a flickr set immediately instead of waiting. I only used about half the pictures I took in this post so there's plenty more to see.