Thornewood Open Space Preserve

This 3-mile hike was the first hike on my list of hikes this summer. Thornewood Open Space is only about a 15-20 minute drive from my home; I had seen it on my commute into work, and I was interested to check it out.

The park is really pretty small, so I am glad in hindsight that I started here. I basically hiked the entire park in one fell swoop.

Thornewood is small enough to hike the entire park, and it's dog friendly. I started in the parking lot off of 84 and walked along Schilling Lake Trail to Schilling Lake. After scoping out the lake, I walked downhill through the redwoods along Bridle Trail. I only had my iPhone with me, so I didn't get any good pictures of the redwoods, but they were quite beautiful. They were also loud that day--the wind was strong and they creaked as they swayed in the wind. Also, the tips of the trees careened into each other with a loud knocking sound. I had never heard anything like that before!