Info:

  • The mini-beach and surrounding area is a perfect place for family gatherings
  • The trail on the East Loop (near bridle trail) is basically non-existent
  • BRING BUG SPRAY AND A MAP

Where is this located? Trumbull county near Cortland

The Way There

The way there was kind of interesting: dealing with people who don’t know how to drive, driving through a bad part of Warren, traveling to a National Historic Register of a Historic Place (Harriet Taylor Upton House).

Harriet Taylor Upton was a women’s right activist and her house is on the register of historic places. I thought about taking a tour but instead drove past it and took some photos. Afterwards, my map could not load to get to the state park so I was aimlessly driving around waiting for a signal to get on my way.

I finally got to the park and parked near the beach. There were 2 family gathering’s going on. I walked around somewhat on the beach and on the grass to see the lake. It was incredibly vast and the lake smell (reminding me of Lake Milton memories) filled the air. The place seemed fun…which was incredibly opposite of the trail I would take. Sorry, the spontaneity of it all was fun lol.

What I Did

Once I realized that there was a mini trail and a doggy park from where I was at (still near the beach) I hopped in my car and traveled a few minutes to the trail I wanted to go to on my ‘Alltrails’ app.

The trail I went on was a multi-use with the bridle trail. I parked on the side near some tall grass with a horse trailer a little ways from my left. Big brown horses were eating hay and their tails were swishing (probably trying to get the mosquito’s off them lol).

It was a perfect day for walking. The leaves were turning from the green to a soft orange and the sun hit the grass trail which made it even more inviting. I hooked on to my ‘Alltrails’ app only to find it wasn’t connecting which I thought I’d be fine without….BOY WAS I WRONG. I pre-looked at this trail and knew that there would be sights of the lake involved.

The Trail with a Detour

I started walking the green grass trail and noticed brown spots. Horse-shit…which explained the smell. Well, no crap Bella this is a Bridle Trail! Yeah, I know, I know. Zero common-sense Bella moments. More to my right than left were small purple and orange colored flowers. Pretty.

I reached a point where I would go left or right. Right I went and into the woods. Sometime later was a decision to go straight or right. Right again I went…which ended up being my wrong turn. The trail was extremely muddy. In fact, I slipped trying to get around a huge puddle and my left shoe got caked with mud. Not only did I have to avoid puddles, I had to climb numerous tree branches and trunks to get back on the trail…which was fun at first. Soon later, I started guessing if I was on the right trail because I had no lake views yet. My woody path took me to an open air grass trail where far off yonder was a barn and two men ATV’ing. I walked on back into the woods. This was where the trail dissolved and there was no clear path.

I soon found myself lost. Everything I stepped on was either sticks or leaves. I wasn’t on a trail anymore. After walking around trying to find where I may have lost my tracks, I couldn’t find it. I was now walking in the middle of hundreds of trees with no sense of direction. I kept stopping to look around to see if there was at least a distinction of a trail. Did I panic? Yep! Was I scared? Not really because I knew there was a way out. But after watching TikTok (before going to bed) on masked hiker’s and unsolved murders, I was constantly looking around and desperately trying to get a connection on my ‘AllTrails’ app to lead me out. Most of me being lost felt like a blur.

On my Facebook photos of my travels to SP’s all I could hear was my nana’s voice saying ‘I always wonder if there’s someone behind those tree’s.’ That didn’t help me one bit haha.

My Way Out

It finally connected! I ended taking a .5 mile loop detour for horse use. But still, even following the highlighted green outline of the path on the app, there was no distinct trail to follow. After I got out of my detour back through avoiding the same puddles and climbing tree trunks and branches, the loop I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ON appeared before me with the trail distinction being red and white dots on trees. Like Nelson Kennedy Ledges, if you are on the wrong side of those markings…you are going to be lost. You have to constantly look for those.

Also, if you stand and try to look around wondering where the eff you are at, mosquito’s will eat you alive. After walking past empty soda bottles and beer cans, I finally got to see the lake, very calm and quiet. I saw a sailboat and the lake smell filled the air once again. The sailboat sailed on slowly. There was also someone kayaking.

I took photos and walked on a non-existent path. At this point, frustration hit and I wanted done with the hike. So, I pushed through sticks, vines, leaves, whatever and made my own path while swatting and saying ‘F off’ to mosquitos. A shortcut back to my car was available so I actually ran. I ran on what seemed to be a trail and through the many, many trees.

The green grass touched my shoes and the sun hit my face. I then bee-lined it to my car. Like Tinker’s Creek, I saw absolutely no one on this trail. But the bigger question…was I completely alone in the middle of the woods?