One of my hiking goals this year is to become more familiar with this park. It's a great place to explore but based the maps online and at the trailhead, only about 70% of the trails are marked. 

I saddled up my two dogs and hiked the following trails in a rambling figure 8: Main > Beaver Pond > Red Barn > Temple Pond > Mainline Cutoff > Main > Wishbone > Midway > Pipeline > Main. My Fitbit clocked about 5.5 miles, and I managed to dodge any rain. All trails were in good shape, with just the standard amounts of standing water and mud puddles. 

Went out on a rainy day.  There is an erite web of trails at Lord Hill, and I just set out in the general direction I thought I wanted to go (if you wanted to get somwhere specific, a map would be almost essential, and signage is inconsistent). 
There was a lot less canopy than I expected; mnay of the trees are alders, and maybe some maple, so no leaves to catch the rain this time of year (fall must be beautiful). Despite my rain gear keeping me dry (or at least not soaking), I soon realized that I was not having fun.  Water started falling harder from the sky, and mud was everywhere.  I soon changed course and started looping back around toward the parking lot.  After only 4 miles, I was happy to be back at the car!

This report is for the regulars, so I'll keep it short. The north entrance to the south section of the Midway (off the Wishbone) has been re-routed. This is good news and bad news:

The good news is that the Parks Dept. has decided to make the Midway a hiker only thru route - so no more shared middle section! A new section goes down the hill from Golden Eye to the old Lower Wishbone, which now becomes the Midway. The bad news is it ends at the cut-off between the Main and Pipeline. Eventually it will cross there and meet the current south entrance to the north section. Make sense? Yeah, I didn't think so...

Anyway, if you're looking for the Midway off the Wishbone, the old entrance is closed, so keep going down the hill and you'll see the new crossing.

(Oh, and it looks like "Swamp Gas", on the current map, is going to go back to "Waynes World". Yes!)

We, my wife, daughter, dog and I, entered Lords Hill park from the south side of the park. Only one other car in the lot. Very quiet.

After mustering, we started out, past the car gate and up the hill. The hill is a road, steep, but not the steepest we found for the day. Being out of shape, I tired and veered into the "upper" parking lot and checked the map. It appeared the only option available was either go straight up the pipeline trail or go back to the car, circle around the park and enter from the North Side. My daughter, 7, enthusiastically wanted to challenge the straight up option. So we did.

Now, if you thought the entry drive, beginning of the hike was steep, this is where your idea of steep gets corrected. This portion of the pipeline trail must be 60 degrees for about a tenth of a mile. After a few rest stops up the hill, we finally made it. The trail leveled off and was easy going. Until we made it over the next rise, we could see the pipeline went up again. And again, our daughter was game and pulled everyone along. 

The second hill was not so bad. After you accomplish the first massive hill, anything seems easy! And so we went, over the hills and into the valleys along the pipeline trail. We never found the south entrance to Beaver Lake, our destination, but at one point we saw a trail marker highlighting the North Parking Lot, this confirmed we were at the North side of Beaver Lake. We had a picnic lunch and headed home.

A couple additional words: The South entrance is great. The first major hill will sap you; i'm definitely trying the North entrance next trip out. Maps, the park has many trails. There is good signage and the trails are in excellent condition; you still need a map. We took a simple straight route; I can only imagine if we went off the pipeline how disorienting it can become. This is the first hike I appreciated having hiking sticks, even with them I fell three times. It's slippery on the hills when wet!

This hike received three thumbs and one paw UP!

Last time I was at LH the wind was blowing, trees were swaying and branches were breaking. Today seemed so quiet compared to that. Sunny and bright and frosty cold.

Even though the parking lot was 3/4 full when I arrived, I wandered for more than an hour before I saw my first trail runners. Later I would see horseback riders, mountain bikers and families with kids. It's never crowded here though. Nice that there are so many trails to choose from. 

The trails are in good shape. Most spots that would be muddy are frozen. The muddiest spot is on the Red Barn trail by the English Pond cut off. It's not so bad that you couldn't just tromp right through or take a running jump to get to the other side. There's lots of hairy ice here. Bright white patches that shine in the otherwise green and brown woods. 

We enjoyed a little break sitting in the sun by Temple Pond and later by Hidden Pond. When you sit quietly for a minute you can hear woodpeckers knock knock knocking away. We saw other little brown birds in the woods, ducks and a hawk. 

My dogs love it here and so do I.