Wednesday, December 28, 2011

SEWARD BLUFFS FOREST PRESERVE 12-28-11

A return to a sentimental favorite hiking spot. Lots of up and down, so it went kind of slow. 5.1 miles in just over 3 hours and 10 minutes. All very nice and well marked horse trails. A mixture of forest and prairie, with plenty of creek access for the beagle. Very nice scenery too. A really great place to hike. And it is not real far away either.

We ran across only two other people on the trails. They had a dog with them and were on the snow mobile access trail at the west end of the park. I did see a truck parked next to us outside the front gate, and saw a couple cars in the park as well.

I uploaded a new map from the district website. It now has the trail markers on the map. I added the snowmobile access trail I noticed, the foot bridge, and the path from the horse parking area.
Note that the map shows north to the right.

GPS track.

I got some pretty decent pictures.

These two are from the bluff above the creek on the east end of the park.


The view from the scenic overlook really is scenic.

A good looking beagle in the forest.

I parked outside the front gate. I did not know exactly when I would get back and did not want to get locked in. We ended up getting back about 4 pm and the park does not close until around 5 this time of year (1/2 hour after sunset). Sunset times are posted by the main gate. I guess to forestall any arguments about when the park closes. It was a good spot to park anyway as I wanted to start on the east side of the park that we missed the last time we were here, and there is a trail that heads that way right inside the campground gate that is adjacent to where we parked.

After our hike was over we drove west on Comly Road to take a look at the horse parking area.


This cut path looks like the one that goes down to the creek at marker 4 on the trail map.

Then we headed west to Klinger Road and went north on Klinger. We came across the snowmobile trail.

On our way home we went east on route 20 from Klinger Road. It appears there is a trail that goes along route 20 from Klinger Road to the bridge over the creek. It seems to stop right at the creek. Maybe a snow mobile trail. I was unable to slow down to take a closer look.



Wilma was pretty quiet on the way home.

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