Lord Hill Regional Park — Friday, Dec. 13, 2013

Puget Sound and Islands > Seattle-Tacoma Area

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.