Lockwood and Anna Page Parks 3-31-12

The Rockford Park District web site claims there are 15 miles of trails in Lockwood and Anna Page Parks. We did about 5.5 miles today. I don't know if there are ten miles of trails we did not hike or not. There might well be. A lot of side trails that end up in the same places, just taking a slightly different route. The North Fork of Kent Creek meanders through both of these parks. It is never real far away from the trails. Wilma appreciated having the creek nearby.

Lockwood Park is just west of Searls Park, where the NW terminus of the Mel Anderson Path can be found that we hiked back on 12-27-11.

We parked at Lockwood Park and then walked on the horse trails over to Anna Page Park and walked the horse trails there around in the woods. We made a wrong turn on the way back and ended up on a gravel road that went out to Safford Road and we ended up walking back to the main entrance to Lockwood Park along Safford Road. There is an underpass under Springfield road to get between the two parks so no need to try and cross a busy road.

I got this map by emailing the Park District and asking for it in late December of last year. They promised to mail me one as soon as they got them printed up, but alas no such luck. I sent them another email a few days ago and a map appeared in my mail box this morning. So off we went to the park. As is usually the case with such maps, it does not show all the side trails, but it is pretty good for showing the main features.

As sometimes happens, I forgot to turn on my GPS until I was out on the trail. The circle is where we started and ended. Base Camp called the part it caught as 5.1 miles. My guess is we went about half a mile before I turned on the GPS, so call it 5.5 miles.

We ran into five people and one dog out on the trails. There were quite a few more people enjoying the park features, such as picnicing and using the playground equipment. The trails we were on were a mixture of all kinds of surfaces - dirt, grass, wood chips, gravel, crushed stone, and some asphalt (most of the asphalt had been broken up). Some of the grass and dirt sections had some wet and/or muddy parts, but it was all passable.

Nothing unusual, and not real remote, but a nice walk in the woods. We did not see anything in the way of wildlife other than some ducks and other birds. I heard but not see woodpeckers several times.

There is this big rock out by the entrance to Lockwood Park.

This map is posted by the parking lot. Not a whole lot of help with the trail system.

We ran across these flowers along the trail. I am pretty sure they are not native. Probably someone planted them there for whatever reason.

Some ducks on the creek. Don't know what the yellow thing is. Some kind of toy I think.

ETA 6-10-12

I submitted a review of these trails to TrailLink as an adjunct to the Mel Anderson Path April 2012.