Sunday, September 25, 2022

Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area: New Trail and Old Stage Hill Road Loop

 A beautiful day and we wanted to get out and enjoy some hiking close to home. We opted to head over to Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area to check out the new trail they built out there. We made the short drive and parked at the trailhead near the old entrance to the Recreation Area. We hit the trail, hiking steadily downhill at the start.



At one point we passed behind the shooting range. 



The trail is behind a pretty high ridge though, so there's no chance of getting accidentally shot. We continued to descend, sometimes through woods, at other times in the open prairie. 




We were never too far away from Highway 71. The trail ended at an access road for what I think is a maintenance facility for the park. Obviously, the trail isn't a loop like I had hoped. Still, we were able to hike the old road, a closed section of Stage Hill Road, the original highway across the Wildcat Hills. There were some interesting views from the road.




You just have to get past the bottom section of the road, as that's where they dump all the junk from the park. 


We found everything from old pit toilet buildings to playground equipment alongside the road. The other minor inconvenience with walking the road is that there is a fence across it towards the top. We were able to get Rosie to crawl under it, but we had to climb it.


Once on the other side, the road is still active. It was a short walk back into the recreation area and our parked car.

No comments:

Post a Comment