2012
Trail reviews
and photos
2011
Trail reviews
and photos
New
trails at Wyandotte
Hillsdale Lake
2010
Trail reviews
and photos
New
Trails Completed at Wyandotte County Lake
September 23, 2011
A peninsula on the east side of Wyandotte County Lake now features a new network
of trails. Recently installed by volunteers for the Trail Masons Association,
the new trails showcase scenic and quiet fishing coves and wooded ravines between
the park road and the lake. Trails are heavily shaded, with some very rocky sections.
About a mile and a half of trails follows the shoreline while the remaining sections
meander a sloped, wooded area with lush oak, hickory and walnut forest. Lakeside
sycamores, thick groves of pawpaw trees and small prairie remnants are also featured.
A Boy Scout camp is en route with a dock while picnic tables with fire rings
are found on a grassy knob overlooking the lake arm. Mallard ducks, Canada geese,
belted kingfisher and great blue heron can be seen and heard around the cove.
White tailed deer are abundant. Spur trails provide fishing access. Short detours
will lead you to formal picnic shelters which were fashioned in the handsome
and rustic National Park style by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in
the 1930s. About five miles of trail have been completed and mapped, but have
not been marked or signed yet.
Directions: Wyandotte County Lake can be reached from I-435. Take the Leavenworth
Road East exit. Turn left on 91st street. Approaching the park, stay right at
the fork. Follow the park road past shelter 1 and turn left at a sign for shelters
3, 5 and 7. Park at shelter 7 and continue walking the road behind the shelter.
At the bottom of the hill, you'll find the trail flanked by two huge limestone
slabs. There is one parking space here if you are lucky enough to get it.