Oxbow Loop Trail — Saturday, Jul. 15, 2023

I felt ambitious and took my 3 year old, my 15 month old, and our 3 month old puppy hiking this morning. We arrived at the small parking lot around 8:30am and only 3 cars were there, much to my surprise on a very nice Saturday. Based on the length of the hike and how far down Middle Fork it is, I’d guess it’s not a super popular hike, which means it is my lucky day! The Mailbox Peak lots were already bursting at the seams with cars starting to park along the side of the road.

The trail is easy to follow and flat, with only a couple of minor ups and downs throughout, but it keeps it interesting. My 3 year old had no problems and my 15 month old was in my backpack. One thing that immediately caught our attention were the hundreds of tiny frogs all over the trail! Some look like they’ve been stepped on accidentally, which is easy to do with so many and being that small, so watch your step if you can. The frog counting game entertained my toddler the majority of the time, then the berry hunting took over. There were lots of berries- some ripe and others not, so watch your littles because many are within reach.

The trail is a little overgrown in places (but honestly not too bad at all for how few people I saw on a Saturday) and the overhanging blackberries are pokey, so be careful. The only thing that was rough was the bug situation- don’t go without some kind of bug spray because they went after us immediately.

It is mostly shaded if you start early, but as you get into late morning, it starts getting warmer and more exposed. I’d guess by noon it would be cooking on a warm day.

Overall a great distance for my 3 year old (1.8 miles) and enough interesting things (good views, cool log benches to sit on, berries, frogs, big old trees, squirrels, and birds) to keep her engaged the whole time with only minimal snack bribery.