Fortunately, we had a guide in John Engelhardt who had a map and knew the trails. Forest Park is like a plate of spaghetti. The change since my last visit is a new host of signs, posted at every intersection. There also are numbered and named park benches, some 65 in all, placed at viewpoints throughout the park. You can use an app at each bench to give you your exact location. John sent me this list ot trails.
4+ mile loop: P4- Siskiyou Trail-Knobcone Pine Trail-Pipsissewa
Trail-Halls of Manzanita Trail-P4.
We left from parking P4 and initially climbed 700 feet, largely via many short switchbacks up steep grades. The switchbacks have been constructed with large granite rocks and would have required a lot of labor. We stopped at 3 viewpoints on the way. Reaching the top, we went laterally, then down, then across the hill to make a loop. It was a bit up and down so we may have gotten to 1,000 feet of ascent. We had some light rain but nothing to bother us much and we finished in a sun shower. The forest was very colorful with lots of madrones and manzinettas.
Finally, we headed down and concluded with over 4 miles that took about 2 1/2 hours because of the slow ascent up the switchbacks. It was plenty of exercise and we decided to have our lunch in comfort at Boomtown in Jacksonville. We will plan another Forest Park hike as we only did one side of the park.
-
20221128_100902
-
20221128_101520
-
20221128_101529
-
20221128_101826
-
20221128_102512
-
20221128_102702
-
20221128_103820
-
20221128_103836
-
20221128_105141
-
20221128_114011
