I had part of the day off so I took the beagle to Fuller Memorial FP , SW of Rockford. It's not a big FP, and only has 2 miles of trails according to the FP website, and sadly, no creeks. But, I have decided to hike in all of the FP facilities that have trails, and I wanted to try out my new boots, so off we went.
I had planned to hike both of the trails on the map, but there is a locked gate on the road going to the southern trail. I don't know if it is to keep everyone out, or just cars, but I decided not to walk down there. Maybe that is what the note on the trail map saying "bird sanctuary closed to public" means.
We started at the trail head near this ball diamond. You can't see it in the picture, but the trail starts to the left (NW) of the ball diamond.
The trail is a mowed grass and dirt path through the fields and some wooded areas.
We saw a couple rocks like this along the way. I guess they are for sitting on.
A crew was out raking and blowing the leaves off the trail in the wooded area, where it is mostly dirt.
The beagle was having a nice walk, even sans creek.
In the wooded area where the trail was mostly dirt, there are a fair number of exposed roots. They have all been painted blaze orange. I have not seen that elsewhere.
One of several access paths along the field where the ball diamond is located.
A fence with a missing section leading to some private property. I guess they wanted to be able to get to the FP without having to go to the entrance.
This fence seems to separate off the bird sanctuary area. It's in pretty bad repair in some areas with poles that have broken off, and trees that have fallen on the wire mesh fence.
We get back to the parking area, but not before stopping for some nice fresh cool water for the beagle.
This is the locked gate to the bird sanctuary area. If there is bus parking, I am betting there is some access allowed, maybe only school groups and such.
A group of high school age students came into the park while we were there. They were running on part of the trail. Possibly a cross country team. We saw a Winnebago school bus parked near the outhouse when we left. The bus driver was laying on a picnic bench. Must be nice to have so much tax payer money that you have to spend some of it busing your cross country team to a FP so they can run in the woods.
I wonder if the trail clearing and root painting is being done to accomodate the high school runners.
Not a bad little hike. About 1.25 miles according to my cell phone pedometer. I kind of prefer horse trails, and longer hikes, and Wilma likes creeks. So we probably won't be back.
I saw a lot of what looked like game trails going into the fields of weeds. Perhaps the deer like to hang out there, although I did not see any, or any direct evidence of them. I did not see a lot of birds either. Maybe they are all hanging out in the bird sanctuary, or perhaps they have already headed for someplace warmer.
Most of the preserves I have hiked this season have trail segment(s) cut into the fields that are not on the trail maps. This one does as well. I only remember one here, and it appears to be a short cut on the north loop of the trail. Perhaps it also allows for closer inspection of the weeds, farther away from the edges of the preserve.
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