Shagbark Loop Trail

The trail starts near the entrance to the park where parking is available as soon as you turn in. There are only a few parking spots available here but the trail can be accessed from the main parking area about a half mile into the park. The trail starts through a densely wooded area where you make a loop before heading south into the park. This area can be very wet and the insects are bad in the wet summer months. The start of this trail tends to stay wet for most of the warm months of the year. Once you make the loop and head south, you cross a bridge over the creek that provides the park's name, Blues Creek. As you continue, you access the main area of the park with a playground fishing pond and grassland. Here you can access two of the other trails in the park, the Meadowlark Trail and the Fox Run Trail. If you continue south past the fishing pond, you encounter a marsh area that can be teaming with wildlife before the grasses get too dense in the late summer. It is a pretty cool area of the park, but don't venture off of the path here as it is very wet in this area. From here you enter a densely wooded area that loops around to complete the trail. You'll be able to access the Blue Stem Trail from this portion as well.