Fairfax Villa State Park, Fairfax

11 April 2017

This is such a fantastic park for hiking. Within minutes, you can be surrounded by woods, with not a single house or power line in sight. Some trails wander along mostly flat ground near several streams that criss-cross the park, while other trails meander over hills, providing occasional views and a pleasantly varied terrain. None of the paths require serious scrambling up or down, while different types of rocks occasionally spread across the path, inviting curiosity.

This time, I had the time to explore deeper into the park. Before, I had stuck to the stream along one side of the woods, always in sight of a few houses. Now, I took a path perpendicular to that one, and boy did it wander deep into the woods. Heavenly.

The path does occasionally fade into basically just a depression in the leaves, though it never completely fades and always returns to a clear path within a few dozen yards. Still, keep an eye out.

This isn't helped by the number of trails in the park that cross each other, with blazes only occasionally featured on some of those trails. It's not exactly easy to get lost, and the park's size means you're never in any real danger, but just keep that in mind.