Adventure to suburban parks

Urban living is wonderful for so many reasons. As we are three months into COVID19 I have found myself interested in a slice of suburban life.

Today I had the chance to spend a very pleasant hour and a half exploring the William Ives Trail and Meridian Neighborhood Park.



This slice of nature set between suburban neighborhoods has the suburban quiet, a steady set of walkers, well-behaved dogs, and youth on bicycles roaming along the unpaved paths.

Its a journey from Seattle (45min + one way) but the change in pace is a nice variety to days in the city.

In addition to the walking trails, the park has a nice playground area(not accessible), a large field, and a pavilion with picnic tables to round out your park visit.

Walter Jacobs Park Mooringsport, LA 71060

A gem of a discovery. The Walter Jacobs Park in Morrningsport Louisiana is a short 1 hour drive from Longview Tx. It has about 5 miles of true nature trails that loop and wind to allow for all levels of dedication. Its free to visit but has limited hours so check before you go. At the parking area you find a nature center with all sorts of interesting local things to see, touch and learn about. The lady working the Sunday we visited was very friendly and had lots of interesting information on the local environment, including the existence of a Bear population that moves between the south eastern Louisianan area and the east Texas area around Pittsburgh and Jefferson.

The trails are varied with handicap accessible paved trails, sandy paths, bridges over slow low creeks and trails through the fields under the power cuts. Due the the looping system the park has LOTS of trail signs and great maps but you will most likely question if you are really where you think you are, luckily they all loop back to the nature center.

Surrounding the nature center visitors have the opportunity to see rescued birds and a rescued deer. Out of sight are kept the birds that are being rehabilitated to release to the wild.

We easily spent 2 hours walking the trails and exploring the park. After it was a quick drive into Shreveport for dinner and ices. This is on my must visit list for those who are spending some time in this part of the county. 

Glimer Lake

Lake Gilmer

Lake Gilmer first opened to the public on September 29th 2001 and is located at FM 852, 4 miles west of downtown Gilmer.

Lake size is 1,010 surface acres. There is an additional 1,557 acres of mitigation property that will be developed into combination hiking and nature trails and bird watching stations. A swimming and picnic area will be developed on the north end of the lake near the dam area.

If you are interested in Lake Gilmer, please contact Lake Ranger Danny Lancaster at 903.843.8209

Lake Gilmer Park and Kelsey Creek Sanctuary Nature Trails Are Now Open at Lake Gilmer located on Armadillo Road, just off Cherokee Trace.

http://gilmer-tx.com/?page_id=326

I visited today and did both the smaller loops and about 2 miles of the 4 mile trail before it started to rain. the park is awesome, finding it was a bit of an ordeal, i have no advice for you but stay on paved roads and keep a good sense of direction to you.

I am confidant that this is a place I will visit again, only 20 min from Longview its a great get away and today I was the only one there! WIN WIN.

The smaller loop at the park itself is paved and the trees and plant are labled making it a great spot to learn more about the areas plants.

The longer straight trail was very well marked and also had a sprinkling of plant labels as you venture along

Wind Canyon

The Wind Canyon Nature Trial is the second most stunning trail I have hiked in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The following photographs are a sample of the awesome beauty of this short, child friendly nature trail located in the south unit.