University of Wisconsin Trail at Dusk

We've been to the UWGB trail before. It's quite pretty. As before, this trail is stroller friendly for walking or slow jogging, not so sure about if you're running. It's a bit over 4 miles and is quite pretty. It goes along the water and through the forested area as well as along a more prairie area with a nice field of clovers (which are edible!). This was a gorgeous trail in the afternoon and beautiful again nearing dusk.  

I wandered this trail around dusk a weekend or so ago. The trail closes at dusk according to the sign so I barely made it in time, not that I saw any officers around. 

This is the picnic area where there is a nice parking lot. I plan to come back to watch the sunset before it gets too cold out here in this weather! 

Most Scenic Trail in GB

Okay, technically it's Allouez, and if ya'll know me by now, you know I mean the East River Trail.

I have followed this path now till it's almost end (I could see the end, but my feet could not walk another step). The path does get better after going under Hoffman Ave to wider and less bumpy. And even has "traffic lanes" for those of us who wander from one side of the path to the other.

The trail has a loop at it's end in Ledgeview Park. Ledgeview has multiple play areas (think I saw three but not sure if one of those was a separate small adjacent park). It also has a nice pavilion near the larger play area as well as a gazebo down the way a bit. Going backwards from the end, you'll go through Wiese Park which I think is mostly for playing soccer. I see soccer nets and two gazebos and nothing else here. No play area, but just a short way from there is Kiwanis Park with a play area, pavilion, and a baseball diamond and soccer/football areas. The next park after that is Parkway Riverview Park. From the trail you don't really see this park well, but I believe it's mostly baseball diamonds. No play area here, but just a few short tenths of a mile down is Green Isle Park with a play area, pavilion, baseball diamonds, and tennis courts.

I like to start at Green Isle because the area surrounding this park is so pretty and as it turns out, this is about the midway point. From Green Isle to Ledgeview it's about 4 miles. The total length of the path is about 8 miles according to mapmywalk.com.

Crossing this bridge brings you to the main play area and pavilion of Ledgeview Park as well as following to the end of the East River Trail. 

If you look closely, you can see the ripples on the water from the rain droplets. Didn't quite make it back in time! Beautiful scenery along this path. 

 I still have not taken the path to it's end going north from Green Isle, that will be my goal for next month. I think you have all heard enough of this trail for the time being this month.

Here are the two earlier posts about this trail, each post containing a couple pictures!
East River Trail and Another Trail!

East River Trail

I just did a short walk before work on one of my favorite trails. More pictures in the linked post. 

 

There is a part of this trail that goes more through the city but looks like it goes back to some nice scenery. This is one area, where the trail goes under Allouez Ave between the more industrial and residential area versus the scenic area. 

 

From this point near Allouez Ave going south, the trail passes numerous parks, my favorite so far being Green Isle. South of Green Isle is a little narrower and not as well kept up, better for biking than for jogging with strollers. North of Green Isle is also better for walking since part of the pathway is wooden. I have not explored more than a couple blocks north of Allouez Ave (pic above) but the path from what I did see appears to be wide enough and kept up well for jogging with strollers. I'll be exploring north of Allouez Ave on my next long run this coming Sunday and will post more photo's of this amazing trail!

Starting from Baird St, just south of Main St, the trail goes south about 9 miles. There are many little feeder trails leading to it from parks and nearby roads for lots of parking and easy access to the trail. On the map, there appears to be a short break in the trail from Elkay to Westminster but these look to be well traveled areas to use sidewalks to connect back up to the trail. 

UWGB Trail

Google made this picture prettier than my phone did, but it is a good representation of how pretty this trail is! This is about a four mile loop on mostly gravel. It's a walking stroller friendly path. Fairly level and doesn't bind up the stroller wheels. It's also wide enough to walk with two people and the stroller, probably not for two strollers side by side though. It's mostly forest and fields but there is a nice area along the lake as well. 

This area along the water has a nice place to park and set up a picnic and maybe do a body weight exercise or yoga routine. I'm hoping to take Teen Muddy this weekend with the baby. She's awesome with picnics :). If anyone wants to join me, let me know now!!! We'll pack extra food. 

This trail also has a nice patch of clovers growing! I'll save that pic for another post about the wonderful joys of edible flowers/weeds. I have never actually eaten a clover. Baby Muddy ate his first clover this past weekend at the park. He's played with them before and put them in his mouth. This weekend though, he just popped off the flower part and ate it. 

So, this trail is in Wisconsin of course and I haven't ventured far out of Green Bay yet. There are just so many trails and path's near me. This area is just opposite the main entrance to the UWGB campus. 

Another Trail!

I walked this path first with my Amazing Sister :). Then with a new friend. When I first went with my sis, we went with the kids in the jogging strollers and her older daughter riding bike along with us. I had never been down this way before and was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. The other end of the trail is much more narrow and that's the part I've explored before. This is the East River trail and it runs along side a small slow flowing river. In this picture you can see the river and the bridge going over it to get back to the park. This is, I think, the prettiest part of any trail in Green Bay. This photo and the one below. 

And here is through the marshy area, also what I would consider just beautiful. Going over the bridge and down the path this way is a nice little trek of maybe a mile before you get to a major road and then the path goes along the road instead. Until then, it's just beautiful and relaxing. It's not as wide as some of the other trails I go on but the beauty makes up for it. I hadn't known this end was so nice until a couple weeks ago and since I've been there three times. Now that Teen Muddy has finished the classroom portion of drivers ed, this will likely be my main trail for when I'm walking. It's a bit tough to run with the stroller over the wooden path but well worth walking :). 

Baby Loving the Flowers on Our Walk

Little guy had lots of clovers during this run/walk. We walked 0.6 miles to our path. The path is 1.2 miles long. We ran the first mile in 12:09!!! Awesome record for me with the jogging stroller! Then we walked the 0.2 and did a mile back. Then repeated the process. The last mile I timed it again and we got it done in 12:23! I was amazed! I thought my fourth mile would have been slower than that especially with a slight upgrade going back and with the first mile heading out having a slight downgrade. With the walking and jogging we had a total of 6 miles. Pretty good morning!

Clovers are entirely edible. Though Baby Muddy hasn't actually eaten any, I don't want him poisoned if he does put one in his mouth. 

And Catsear, though they look like dandelions and are edible as well, they grow quite tall. These are about 4 feet high and have multiple flowers. There weren't any dandelions along this trail that were suitable for picking for little guy since the path had just been mowed. These looked pretty trying to sneak through the fence but we left them where they were. He had to stick with the clover :). 

Nature in the City

With my teen in drivers ed, it leaves me with a couple hours every morning to find something to do. I started walking near there and after a couple days found this trail through the busy city blocks. It's only about 1.2 miles long and about 2/3 of a mile away from my daughters class but long enough to go down and back a time or two during my daughters two hour class. It took nearly 40 min down and 40 back when I had my little guy in the carrier strapped to my chest, about 3.6 miles that day. I go much slower when he's strapped to me rather than on wheels :).

There are dandelions along the path as well as clover. Lil guy has torn apart multiple dandelions yellow and fluffy ones. Probably eaten a bit of them too. Right now absolutely everything seems to go into his mouth. After a bit of research, clovers are entirely edible too. Tomorrow, we're giving him tons of clovers to tear to shreds and I don't have to worry about him being poisoned since they are safe. Apparently only the flowers taste good and not the leaves.

Somehow though, I managed to sprain my instep. Tomorrow I'm going to try to jog again and hope it doesn't kill me. I had another great walk with a girl from my mom's group this past weekend but my foot hurt after pretty badly so I skipped the run the next day. To her if she see's this post, it was great meeting you! And I hope we get out there again soon once we're both healed :).

7 Miles Today!

I've had a few personal struggles this weekend. It has been pretty crappy here but that's a post for a week or two down the line if ever. 

Despite the rough weekend, I got out there with my sister and our jogging strollers. With the stroller I can only run 2-3 minutes at a time with a 2 min walk. The first 45-60 minutes is almost all 3 min runs followed by two minutes walking. I didn't do really great today and it took us a bit over an hour and a half to do the full seven miles. 

We ran the East River Trail. It was very pretty! The trail is much more narrow then the one I usually run on. It runs along a very slow moving river and there were some wooden trails over the marshy area of it. The larger trail runs along a residential area and faster river; this one runs through woods and along parks as well as the slow river on the other side. The woods we did have to battle the mosquitoes and I did not survive unscathed. 

Overall, I'm glad I even just made the seven miles tonight. I'm probably a little dehydrated and definitely over stressed. With two runs to prepare for, I really couldn't afford to miss the run today. The Tough Mudder is coming up in 76 days! Just over 2 months to prepare. And the half marathon is about three months away. 

Not only did I need the run, I needed the company. It was nice to have some distraction for a part of today. And the nice nap afterwards with Baby Muddy was quite nice. He curled up on my lap and fell right asleep after my sis and her kids headed home. He was quite tired out too!