Bridle Trails State Park — Tuesday, Mar. 21, 2023

I walk in this park a lot and every so often or so I like to write a trip report for it - just to give it a little clout on here and highlight it. It truly is a unique and awesome park. No where else that I can think of in the region has an urban park you can get so "deep" in and truly feel remote.

Came out here after work for a quick solo walk. Parked in the NW corner of the park and entered through this entrance. I often enjoy entering through this entrance to switch it up since it give immediate access to a remote area of the park from the main parking lot. I hiked down around the lake (verdict is still out on if it is actually a lake or just a marsh, I've never been able to see it with my own two eyes from the trail). Then I explored some less-traveled trails that I've never been on before. For some reason I was expecting the trails to be dry I guess because it has been so warm, and I soon remembered it even rained today(!) when I got out there and it was a bit muddy. Soon the sun was setting and the forest became dark so I headed back to the car. Especially spooky on the narrow, remote trails. Used my phone light to help a bit towards the end. I was trying to get exclusively pictures of fungus on the end of fallen and logged out trees, but had to sneak a picture of the sunset through the trees in there at the end. Did a 2 mile zig-zaggy loop in the woods then walked an extra mile along the road under the streetlights to get up to about 3 miles total. Trying to slowly increase my step count as I try to come back from a long hiking hiatus due to injury. Didn't see another soul the whole time I was in there. No wildlife either besides a few birds.

Happy Trails!