Overlook and ponds--improved trail needs more trees!

A button bush by one of the ponds

User: plectrudis - 10/7/2017

Location: Southeast Metropolitan Park

Rating: 2point5stars

Difficulty: 3stars

Solitude:

Miles Hiked: 5.40 Miles Elapsed Time: N/A

Comments:

We hiked the primitive trail loop and then, to pad out our steps, took the unprimitive sidewalk around the playing fields to a jeep track to the shoulder of 71, then back to the trailhead.

The good: the primitive trail is nice and shady and includes a scenic overlook and couple of ponds. There are flush toilets and picnic tables near the trailhead.

The meh: It's pretty-ish, but it's no Wild Basin or Turkey Creek. Lots of mesquite. The primitive trail (the only part that feels like "hiking") is a little short, and much of the paved/graveled non-primitive path is hideously treeless and exposed. And we accidentally wandered onto private property and had to take the 71 shoulder to get back to the park, which was no kind of fun at all.

The uncategorizable: the battered and dessicated corpse of a mid-size mammal lay in the middle of our path. We couldn't tell what it was--young coyote? Juvenile hog? It was certainly interesting, but, lordy, it did not smell good.

Log Photos

"Silverpuff" fluffballs along the trail

Mesquite scrub

one of the ponds

Area around Southeast Metropolitan Park

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