Outings! – Hilfiker Park

If you’ll recall, I originally planned to visit this park last week. But an adorable old corgi made the attempt less than ideal, so Simon and I went elsewhere. This week we got up bright and early, put on our winter weather gear, and got to the park before anyone else so we could have it all to ourselves!

This park claims to be a field with an out and back trail of just over a mile. On the map it shows a straight line leading from one neighborhood to another, so naturally this was what I expected. What I got was a pasture, some trees, and a poorly marked loop trail that, was probably closer to half a mile. 

The park entrance is at the dead end of a neighborhood road. You can park on the street, and then just walk into the park. It’s literally just a field that’s encircled by pine trees. The path cuts to the right and leads to multiple forks. You can stay to the left of the trees and walk along the field, or take to different paths through the trees (that eventually combine) and loop back to the field path.

There’s also a third fork that skirts between private property and heads out to another neighborhood street. I don’t think this is part of the park proper, and is more just a convenient path to the park for the folks who live in this different neighborhood. Ironically, this was my favorite part of our walk this morning.

Once you’ve picked a park official path, you reach the “loop” part and realize that there’s actually a two-track path that leads further up the field to another copse of trees. Following this brings you to the end of the field and loops parallel to a fence and a private road. Then you come back down what seems to be a defunct gravel road, past an old structure (maybe a chicken coop?), and across the pasture back to the original loop. 

Simon and I walked all of these paths, including the main, official loop twice, and still couldn’t reach a full mile. I’ll also say that, while a peaceful enough walk, I did feel like maybe I shouldn’t have taken that unofficial loop and that I might be trespassing. I was courteous and made sure we left no trace, but still. It felt somewhat disconcerting.