Well this is clearly not a hike for the directionally challenged, as we apparently are. Despite having a map (and using the maps provided for us along the way) we ended up taking 2 (or maybe 3) wrong turns. We intended to hike the Temple Pond Loop, but got way off track. We ended up on the Main Trail down to the Quarry Trail, up the Pipeline Trail (that was a large hill to climb), followed the Main Trail Cutoff until we met up with the Main Trail again and followed that back to the parking lot. Whew. I think we must have hiked 5 or 6 miles when all was said and done. None of the trails we hiked today were particularly scenic. Other than the lovely moss covered trees, there weren't any picturesque streams or mountain vistas to look at. The trail is wide (most of the trails) and well maintained but there were muddy areas to trudge through. The trail is also used by horses so there is the occasional horse poop to navigate around. We passed a few groups on horses, a couple groups of joggers, and some hikers (a few families were out too). I imagine that when the weather is nice it's probably quite popular. To see more of our trip visit http://1retromama.blogspot.com/2011/11/lord-hill-regional-park-snohomish.html .

A walk in the woods in a gem of a park! Yeah I know, not a true wilderness hike, but we managed to get a good day hike of 6-7 miles by hiking down to the river and rambling back on a couple of different loops. If you want views of the river, stay on the 'river view quarry trail and don't try to go all the way to the river as we did. As mentioned on other trail reports, some of the paths are hard to follow, there are trails that are not on the map. Check the kiosks at the major intersections for the 'you are here' dots. We saw several bald eagles, a Coopers hawk and a red tail from our lunch spot at the bottom of the cliffs. Nice close in hike and great pumpkin ice cream in Snohomish.

A halloween treat of a hike at Lord Hill Regional Park today. The great thing about Lord Hill is that you can connect different trails for a hike that meets your time or distance needs. I suggest printing a map of the trails before you go from www.friendsoflordhill.org or the Snohomish County Parks website. Today we chose the Pipeline Trail to the Temple Pond Lood, then down the Pipeline Trail to the cutoff, then up to the viewpoint, then back to the Main Trail to return to the parking area. All of the trails are in good shape but some are slick due to mud and fallen leaves. There are lots of fall colors on display at this time throughout the park, so it is a good time to go if you like a lot of color. We didn't see too many other people out hiking today so we more or less had the trails to ourselves.

I'd long written off Lord Hill Park as a place to go hiking. On previous hikes, I had found too much mud and too many horses, and not enough scenery to make the long drive to Monroe worthwhile. But this park, which protects a miniature mountain range with a heart of basalt, is just too big to ignore. Now that fall color season has arrived in the lowlands, I decided to give it another chance. This time, I started out at the lesser-known Quarry trailhead, and enjoyed a thoroughly pleasant walk. The big maple trees glowed with reds and yellows, and nary a horse was to be seen. I wandered along the old road that follows the base of the quarry, then took an unsigned trail that climbed into a quiet valley with small ponds decorated with floating maple leaves. I eventually hooked up with the pipeline trail, which took me back toward the trailhead. Many more trails seem to exist in Lord Hill Park than the official map shows.To get away from the equestrians, give some of them a try. For now, the park seems to be a multi-use extravaganza, with mountain bikes mixing it up with horses and hikers. In the future, the park should better define which trails are open to which users. And a network of hiker-only trails should be created, much like on Cougar Mountain Park (which this place resembles). Drainage issues on trails should be addressed - I saw not much in the way of drain dips and water bars on trails that could use them.

Got there pretty late around 11:00. Nobody except a few cars were parked in the gravel parking lot. Coming here you have to drive up a very STEEP hill so make sure your car is equipped for that. The place was pretty nice. Horses were grazing, and there was a big bulletin board showing a map of Lord Hill. In other words, it seemed like a good hiking spot. The trailhead was very obvious ; and after about 0.4 miles we arrived with another map of the park and signs. If you take a left, then that is the Beaver Lake trail, which leads to the Pipeline trail. However, if you want to take a right, you continue onto the Main Trail to some other fun places. I decided to take a left - I was curious to see the beavers after all. After half a mile, you see a narrow road that goes downhill and another off to the right that says Pipeline trail. I took the narrow road but as I went down there, after crossing the bridge, I was hopelessly lost!!! There were 2 roads (I took the left one) and after a few minutes, it seemed to lead to nowhere. There was no lake in sight!!! I was so confused because there were no signs at all leading to Beaver Lake! I headed onto the Pipeline Trail after that... I was so disappointed! Again, that road seemed to lead to nowhere. There were lots of spiders and bugs though, lots of wildlife! The whole place seemed "marshy" and in spots it was wet but overall, it was alright for "the ideal hiker." :-) I headed back onto the Main Trail, pretty unsatisfied with this whole "no signs" and all and after seeing the map and where the two roads divide I continued straight, keeping to the Main Trail. It got steep for only 0.1 miles and then I took a left. After that, there were a lot of clumps of horse poop so I decided to quit trying to find my way around this park and go home. There wasn't a lot of stuff to see, but it was still a nice walk around the park. However, a very confusing walk... The signs don't help that much. I advise you to get a picture or something of the park before going so you will not be confused. I never found Beaver Lake today or anything like that! Overall, I would think that this place should be rated as 3 1/2 stars. I will most likely come back and visit this interesting (^_^) place again! Any comments would be appreciated, thank you!