South Ridge Drive Trail

We got on the trail behind the Harmar Pavilion on South Ridge Drive and made a left on the trail.  It was another beautiful day in North Park, with a lot of leaves still left on the trees and the forest floor a multicolored blanket.  

On this trail, you quickly pass a couple of old pavilions no longer being used by the park.  I wonder if there was once a road to these or you had to hike your picnic food in?  

A little farther on is this old log shelter.  It has a nice porch area and a great fireplace with a mantle inside.

This view from the porch of the shelter is amazing.  What a beautiful spot to have an event.  Again, I wonder how old the shelter is and when/ why it fell into disuse?

The mantle.

We made it down to the playground on Old Babcock Blvd, then made the steep hike back up the trail.

Parish Hill Hike

On this most beautiful of fall days, we parked at the parking lot for the Roosevelt shelter and went onto the trail behind the Parish Hill building.  

                                                 We took our time, skirting around the western edge of the golf course.  There were only a few other people on the trail, and we only passed one other person on foot.  It was almost windless, and yet, several times during our walk, leaves just started falling all around us.  They weren't being blown down; it was just their time to tremble to the ground in the autumn sun.  We rested under a blazing yellow tree and laid back on inches of fresh leaves.  There won't be many more days like this this year.