After over a week of inactivity due to a cold, I headed out for a brisk and pleasant morning walk in the park near where I live. Note that there two entrances to Lord Hill park - I went to the south entrance, at the end of Tester Rd., near where SR-522 crosses the Snohomish River. Watch out for construction activity, especially if you go on a weekday. Even though the temperature was back up in the 40s(F), the big freeze of early December is hanging on - many of the trails still had patches of ice and the ponds were mostly frozen over. That's not a bad thing actually, it makes the often-muddy trails easier to walk on. As the previous poster mentioned, there's a maze of trails in the park so it's a good idea to bring a map and compass and know how to use them. A new trail is being built to Temple Pond then turns southward. Don't follow it much past the pond though - it's not done and just dead-ends in the woods near Marsh Pond. There are new blowdowns on the Quarry Trail and the Pipeline Loop Trail.

I was finally able to get out, and with a friend from trail crew this summer, we hiked around Lord Hill. There has been some recent trail work done since I was here last spring. New trail around Beaver Lake, mudholes filled in with gravel and new bridges, plus some brushing out, which made for pleasant hiking indeed. However, a minor complaint I have with these trails is, as others have mentioned, lots of unmarked intersections and no good maps. There has been some new signage, but also some new trails. A mtn biker we talked to said there had been a mtn bike event and that they had added a few trails, which is nice, but it would be nice to have some kind of guidance. We just picked a trail and hiked along trying to make our way to the river. Eventually we did. To my mind, the journey is the destination in this nice park. Lots of ponds, nice woods, and today few people. My advice, if this is your first time, take a side trip to the ponds, but stay on anything marked 'main trail'. There are signs for the main trail at most of the major intersections. Nice close in hike, with some good ups and downs.

Hiked the full length of the park from the north parking lot south to the gravel pit on the south end. Trails are in great shape and most are nice and wide for larger groups. Don't miss the more southern view point off the Pipeline Cutoff trail - it is much better than the northern view - excellent views west over the Snohomish river valley to the Olympics and east over Monroe to the Cascades.

This is an easy hike once you get down the hill to the main trails. The hill isn't difficult just a little steep. Once down the hill there is a map (like the one seen at the trail head) but it's nice to have more than one throughout the hike. The pros on this hike include great signs, no biting flies, very little overgrowth and well-maintained trails. Some cons would include to watch were you step as equestrian are allowed on the trail, very little overgrowth on some trails and some missing trail marker signs. There are no water sources past the trail head. We didn't go down to the Snohomish River or to any of the scenic lookouts but instead did a big loop around the Main Trail. That in itself was scenic and fun. I am going to go back to this trail as there are different trails to new and exciting views!

We arrived around noon to a pretty full parking lot, which is to be expected at that time of day. After a quick look (and a photograph) of the Map we hiked up to the west view trail and the loop trail. We thought we'd get to see a view, but sadly, cloud cover left us looking at the sky. After that we headed down across the pipeline trail and then did the temple pond loop. We came back up the pipeline trail (and saw a deer) to Beaver trail. It was an easy hike. We saw lots of kids and other dogs. I too had a dog. Even though it said that dogs should be on leashes at all times, and the trails were quite busy that day, many people allowed their dogs off leash. While I'm not judging those that wish to allow their dogs off leash, I will warn other dog owners and hikers that this was the first hike I've come across where this happened each time we came upon a dog on the hike (and I'd say that was at least 7 or 8 dogs).