Bauer Trail

The central portion of this trail is wide and open, but both ends are only accessible by foot. It is best accessed via Strahan Trace, Miles Trail or Noack Trail. Since it was a road, it is mostly well drained, but there are some sections that can be impassable after rains and remain muddy for a significant time thereafter. There are improvised bridges over the lowest sections. The western end is in the ditch east of North Eldridge Parkway. However, the easiest access to Bauer is via Strahan Trace from Bear Creek Park at the War Memorial traffic signal. An improvised bridge provides access over the borrow ditch at this point. The trail continues to the north end of the High Berm Trail, where improvised bridging crosses the borrow ditch to the south. Continuing east, there is improvised bridging over a low point before arriving at the junction with Noack Trail. Moving east from this point the trail is generally wide and well-drained, with a barbed wire fence on the south side. The Phillips Cutoff offers a high-ground route to the north end of Noack Trail and to North Eldridge Parkway that is less prone to high water than western Bauer Trail. The Hermann Hospital Trail to the south begins where the barbed wire fence ends. As the trail nears Turkey Creek, it turns southeast for about 1/10 of a mile then curves southward. An improvised bridge over the north borrow ditch provides access to the Banzai Pipeline Trace. Bauer Trail continues south, paralleling Turkey Creek, and crossing Miles Trail before becoming fainter and fainter until ending at Turkey Creek. According to US Army Corps of Engineers' records, the first mile of this road was the southern boundary of a tract of about 354 acres owned by Jerry C. Bauer and his wife. The land on the south side of the road was owned by Tim Miles et al. At the Hermann Hospital Trail intersection the trail enters land that was owned by the Herman (sic) Hospital Trust.