Springfield Parks, Greenways, and Outdoor Spaces

3/28/216
We went out to Lake Springfield this evening and walked the trails plus stopped at Springfield Fire Station #11 and walked on the track.

#21. Lake Springfield Park, Boathouse, and Marina. 5324 S. Kissick Ave.
This 150 acre park on the shore of Lake Springfield in south Springfield has a boathouse with community room available to rent, canoe/kayak rentals, a special events pavilion, a public picnic pavilion with playground, and three connected trails. One end of the 4.5 mile James River Water Trail begins here and you can fish from the bank.  We have been here many times and have walked on all three trails but tonight was the first time we had walked all of the Lake Springfield Park Trail. We parked at the Kissick Trailhead and walked down the paved James River Greenway Trail until it intersected with the Lake Springfield Park Trail. This trail is unpaved with  wood chipping in some areas that goes uphill to the north park boundary then travels east until it intersects with the Greater Ozark Audubon Trail which continues east until you get to the bluff then heads south along the bluff until you get back to the boathouse. There are several great views along the bluff including at Eagle Point. One humorous note--At the intersection, you can either stay on the Lake Springfield Park Trail or go north on the Audubon trail-which is the way we wanted to go. The signs indicated the Lake Springfield Park Trail went one way and the goat trail went the other way.....I thought(only briefly...lol..) Goats???..I though it was birds!!" But of course, goat is an acronym for Greater Ozark Audubon Trail!!!...duh...We had a very nice walk and the part of the trail running along the bluff was especially enjoyable. We did see some birds! We rejoined the James River Greenway Trail at the boathouse and walked back to our vehicle along the lakeshore just as the sun was setting. We spent about 1 1/2 hours and walked 2.8 miles, walking all of the trails.

#22 James River Linear Park/James River Greenway  Lake Springfield Park/Iron Bridge
This greenway trail is in two unconnected sections, one at Lake Springfield and the other section from Galloway Trail near the iron bridge. We have hiked or biked both sections multiple times but were just on the section at Lake Springfield tonight. The Ozark Greenways site states that a future bridge over Lake Springfield has been "suggested" to connect the two sections.

James River Water Trail
This is a 4.5 mile water trail for travel by canoe/kayak That runs between Lake Springfield and the iron bridge. We didn't have a boat but walked along the bank a short way here at Lake Springfield.

Springfield Fire Station #11 4940 S. Fremont Ave.
There is a 1/4 mile asphalt walking/running trail with a 15 station Parcourse Fitness circuit at this fire station in south Springfield. We primarily just walked around the course and read the signs. The signs at each station tell you how to do the exercise and the number of repetitions suggested for three different fitness levels. I did a couple of the stations that involved stretching and jumped for--and missed--the chin-up bar--not that there was any chance I could DO a chin-up--but we wanted to have time to walk around Lake Springfield before it got dark so we only spent about 10 minutes here. According to the Springfield Fire Department website, 5 of the 12 fire stations have tracks and it states that citizens are always welcome at Springfield Fire Stations. This is the first time we had ever been on one of the tracks at a fire station.

We spent about two hours outside tonight and walked just over 3 miles. We checked two Springfield-Greene County Parks facilities off my list, leaving 80 to go. We had been to Lake Springfield before but this was the first time we had stopped at the fire station.

                          Springfield Parks, Greenways, and Outdoor Spaces

3/26/16
We were able to check six more sites off the list today, all on Springfield's north side, plus we spent time exploring the City Utilities park at Fellows Lake. Of course, the weather outside today was fabulous!

#15. Fellows Lake Linear Park Farm Rd. 197
The Springfield-Greene County Parks facility list refers to this trail as the Fellows Lake Linear Park, the signs at the trailheads simply refers to it as Fellows Lake Trail, the Ozark Greenways site calls it Fellows Lake Nature Trail and Springfield-Greene County Parks facilities map has it labeled as Little Sac River Greenway. I don't know if that last name is an alternate name or just a mistake, but I couldn't find Little Sac River Greenway on any internet searches. Neither of us had been either on this trail or anywhere at Fellows Lake before. The trail is 2.5 miles total between two trailheads. We parked at the Fellows Lake Marina and walked for 3/4 mile then back from this trailhead. It is totally unpaved and at times steep and rocky. The trail does not run along the lake shore, but the lake was visible through the trees about half the time on this section and we were essentially walking through the woods. Added to our walk around the picnic area and other facilities at the marina, we spent just under an hour and walked 1.9 mile. We then went to the other trailhead at the gate 4 parking area/dock. We walked out about 1/3 mile out, then back, spending 25 minutes and walking 3/4 mile total. We were in view of the lake somewhat more on this section and there were several bat houses near the trailhead. We saw two other groups on the trail. This trail was nice, but didn't offer anything that we couldn't find much closer to our house, such as at the Springfield Nature Center. We walked a little less than half of the trail.

Fellows Lake Park Farm Rd. 197
This is a City Utilities Park just  north of Springfield. The lake is part of Springfield's water supply. There is a marina, boat launch, docks, two picnic pavilions with playgrounds, trail, and multiple covered picnic tables located here. At the marina parking lot, there is a large dock, boat launch and canoes/kayaks for rent. There were several people here and a few boats on the lake. There were fishermen both in boats and on the banks. There were several covered picnic tables and a large pavilion with multiple tables and grills. There was a playground here with a merry-go-round, swings, and a slide. West from here toward the dam, there are several covered picnic tables and most of them were occupied. There was another pavilion with another playground with two slides, swings and a merry-go-round. There was a group hiding eggs around the playground for an Easter egg hunt. We then pulled in to the parking lot by the dam. The dam was restricted but we could view it from the fence. Next we went back east to gate 4. There is a small dock, the other trailhead, picnic tables and a swing set here. We didn't see any sailboats on the lake but saw several other boats. We spent a little under two hours here and walked almost 3 miles. There may be other public use areas on the south side of the lake but we were only on the north side. This was a fun area to explore.

#16. Valley Water Mill Park 2450 E. Valley Water Mill Rd.
This 70 acre park with a lake is on the north side of town near Glenstone Ave. and I-44. I had a vague idea of this park and lake's existence but we had never been before. There are several trails here and we walked the 1+ mile path around the lake that is mostly unpaved. There are two fishing pavilions near the dam and both were occupied. There is no boating/swimming allowed and no playground.. The Watershed Center of the Ozarks is located here but it was not open at the time we were there. There are several education stations along the path about water supplies/conservation and there is a spring with a large deck by it. We spent about 50 minutes and walked 1.6 miles. There were several other people here. The scenery on the walk was very nice and was probably my favorite of today.

#17. Valley Watermill Equestrian Center 4007 N. Farm Rd. 171
This is a public use equestrian center just around the corner from Valley Water Mill Park. I had no idea there was a public equestrian center in Springfield. It was near 6:00 pm when were here and there were only a few people around. There is an inside arena, an outdoor arena and an obstacle course. They offer classes, camps, and birthday parties. You can rent the meeting room for weddings/conferences. Horse owners can bring their horses here to ride and there were several horses and ponies(or miniature horses?) in the pasture. Many of them were waiting at the gate...It must have been supper time!!! We walked inside the arena and around outside for about 10 minutes. This seemed to be a very nice facility.

#18. Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course 1825 E. Norton Rd.
This is one of two golf courses located here on Norton Rd. on the north side of Springfield. There is a driving range and pro shop and offers private lessons. Neither Charlie and I golf on any courses that don't involve a windmill or hitting the ball into an alligator's mouth so we had never been here before. We literally drove by this here on our way back from Valley Water Mill Park and stopped so I could check it off my list.

#19. Betty Allison at Oscar Blom Golf Course 1825 E. Norton Rd.
This is right across the street from the Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course. This is a family friendly lighted nine hole course. The Betty Allison Center was closed but we could see one group golfing. The clubhouse is available for rental and birthday parties.

#20. Parkwood Park 2600 N. Barnes
This is a 6 acre neighborhood park in north Springfield just north of Kearney St. on Barnes Ave.. We had never been here before and it is larger that it initially seems. There is a gravel drive between an apartment building and a residential street but it opens up to be much larger when you get behind the apartments. There are swings, two slide/play structures and several picnic tables. There is an old silo and no paved parking but you can apparently drive in and park on the grass. There were several people here but only one vehicle so I imagine this is a primarily a neighborhood park. We were here for about 5 minutes and walked 0.15 miles.

Including drive time, we spent four plus hours and visited all places we had never been before. We have now checked 20 Springfield-Greene County Park facilities off the list of 102.

Springfield Parks, Greenways, and Outdoor Spaces

3/22/16
Three more parks/trails visited tonight plus we were briefly on a city walking/biking corridor. The temperature was nice but it was very windy.

#12. Ray Kelly Park 2225 S. Fremont
This a smaller park with a short (0.15 mile) track, picnic tables, three slide/gym structures and swings on the corner of Fremont Ave. and Seminole St and there was plenty of parking. There were 2 "ball fields" with chain link back stops but no actual bases and appeared to have had very little use recently with just faint base paths visible.  We had been here just a few times years ago. Charlie had practiced volleyball here on outdoor courts. The volleyball courts are gone but you can see where they were. There were three small, raised garden beds, two of which were covered with plastic "greenhouses' and we could see something growing in one of them. This is also the site of the Southside Senior Center. The only other people here were a couple of people working on the gardens. We spent 12 minutes and walked a 1/2 mile around the park.

#13. McDaniel Park  2405 S National
This is the trailhead and beginning of the South Creek Greenway Trail/Linear Park on the corner of National Ave. and Sunset St. We have parked here before to ride on the trail but have never explored the rest of the park. It is a fairly large park(16 acres on the website and 20 acres on the sign at the park) with a kiosk  giving information about the trail and a large rock sign with a metal historical marker telling the history of the park at one end and a playground at the other end. The playground has two swing sets and two slide play structures with a gravel parking area. There is a larger, paved parking area at the other end. The park appears to be a narrow rectangle with National Ave. on one side and vegetation growing along a creek(South Creek, maybe) on the other side but if you go through a break in the vegetation on the west side of the park, there is another area nearly as big. There is yet more open land further to the west through another tree line but I am not sure how much is actual city park land. There were several people hiking/biking/walking dogs on the trail but no one on the playground. We parked at the trailhead and walked down to the playground then through the break in the tree line into the other area then walked back down to the trail. Combined with our walk down the trail, we spent one hour and walked 2.3 miles.

#14. South Creek Linear Park  Lee McDaniel Park
This trail is also referred to as the South Creek Greenway Trail, South Creek Greenway National Recreation Trail and just South Creek Greenway. We have been on this trail many times and have started biking from the 0.0 mile marker here at McDaniel Park a few times but have primarily started this trail at Nathanael Greene Park. We walked out to the 0.8 mile marker then back. It's been so long since we travelled this section that the last time it was not complete and the actual trail ended at Holland Ave. and you had to ride down the street/sidewalk until it restarted at Campbell Ave. Now the trail is complete and you cross two bridges as the trail crosses back and forth across South Creek and there a couple of nice areas with benches. Two miles of the trail starting  just west of the McDaniel Park trailhead has been adopted by the Greater Ozarks Audubon Society and is home to over 100 species of birds. This was a very enjoyable walk through budding trees and plenty of water running in the creek.

The Link
The Link is a seven mile walking/biking path going north/south across the center of Springfield from Doling Park to Battlefield Rd. using low traffic streets. It looks like it follows Holland and Kimbrough Avenues for much of the way. There are plans to extend it south to Cox South and beyond connecting to the Ward Branch Trail(see yesterday's post). There is a HAWK Signal crosswalk crossing Sunset St. at Kimbrough Ave. and four cycle aid stations with bike stands, air pumps and tools located along the Link. This corridor is designed to provide a safe, low traffic bike route across the city connecting four college campuses with many current and planned links to other bike paths. We walked for a few yards along this between Broadmoor St. and Sunset St.at Holland Ave.

George W. Moore Park
On the Springfield-Greene County Park map there is a George W. Moore Park marked near Seminole St. and National Ave. This is not included in the list of 102 Springfield-Greene County park facilities and nothing comes up on the internet(including on either the City of Springfield or Ozark Greenways websites) when I search for this park. We couldn't find any evidence of this park but the location on the map is not specific. I have three possible theories about this park. The first is that is may refer to the playground area of McDaniel Park. Another is that it may be another name for the Holland Elementary School Park. The third theory is that this may be the name for one or both of the empty lots with water retention basins(presumably city property) at both the northwest and southwest corners of Seminole St. and National Ave. Of course someone just may have made a mistake when designing the map.
4/10/16 update. I found a reference to this park that described it as adjacent to McDaniel Park. McDaniel Park has three large fields separated by creeks/ tree lines. Apparently, one of these is George W. Moore Park. This park was referenced in a description of future Springfield-Greene County Park projects as the site of a planned children's tricycle/safety course.

We have now visited 14 of the Springfield-Greene County Park facilities over the past three days leaving 88 more to go!! We spent about 1 1/4 hours today.

Springfield Parks, Greenways, and Outdoor Spaces

       

3/21/16
This evening we visited three "green spaces" but only one of them is on the list of Springfield-Greene County Park facilities. The additional two are other public accessible paths.

#11. Ward Branch Linear Park
This trail is referred to as Ward Branch Greenway on the Ozark Greenways site but as the Ward Branch Linear Park on the Springfield-Greene County Parks site. This trail is in three disconnected sections and runs along Ward Branch Creek. The section we walked is not shown on the Springfield-Greene County Parks facility map but is on the Ozarks Greenways trails map and described on their website. It is also noted that there are plans to eventually connect these sections. We started at Bradford Pkwy and Independence St. and walked out and back the approximately 1 mile section which ended at Monastery St. and  Roanoke Ave. near Twin Oaks Country Club. This isn't a particularly interesting walk with views primarily of James River Freeway, the backside of Cox South facilities and a frequently concreted over Ward Branch Creek. The trail is entirely paved and has a few areas of incline/decline. There had been recent flooding and there was a lot of trash/debris plastered on/through the railings and they were even broken in a couple of places but the path was mostly clear. There are no signs identifying this trail but there was signage stating this was a "trail" and a couple of others indicating a hiking/biking trail. We saw three other groups of walkers tonight. Including the walk around Burrell Park Lake we spent 53 minutes and walked 2.05 miles.  I have walked around the lake and about half of this section of Ward Branch trail before with some coworkers but Charlie had never been here.

Burrell Park Lake Path
This is not a city park but is a path around Burrell Park Lake on Bradbury Pkwy. behind Cox's Hulston Cancer Center. This a completely paved path that runs around a pretty urban "lake" with concrete benches and picnic tables with walkways/steps leading to it from adjoining office buildings.  It was beautiful tonight with many blooming trees, a pretty willow tree and geese on the lake. There were a few other people walking the path and taking photos. We parked at the Hulston Cancer Center back parking lot. After walking around the lake, we walked a half a block over to the Ward Branch Trail just past Independence St. on Bradbury Pkwy. to combine these two walks.

Twin Oaks Park
This park is on the grounds of Springfield City Utilities Twin Oaks Substation on Monastery St. just south of James River Freeway. It is a City Utilities park, not a Springfield-Greene County Park. I did not know this was here but Charlie knew about it although he had never walked the path. Two sections of the Ward Branch Greenway Trail/Ward Branch Linear Park start near here although they are not actually connected. There is a paved path that meanders through the substation grounds and runs close to Twin Oaks Golf Course on one side and a residential area on the other. It was a nice walk but not particularly spectacular. There are four picnic tables with grills and a swing set with 2 sling swings and two toddler swings. There were several parking spaces. We passed one person walking his dog and there were two boys swinging. We spent 14 minutes and walked 0.6 miles.

So just one more "official" park facility marked off the list but visited a couple of nearby interesting green spaces leaving 91 Springfield-Greene(Missouri) Park facilities to visit. We spent about 1 1/4 hours today.

Springfield Parks, Greenways and Outdoor Spaces

3/20/16

I have lived in Springfield, Missouri continuously for over 35 years plus I attended college here prior to that. I have spent a lot of time at the various parks and trails in Springfield but have frequently noted that there were places I had never visited. So I decided recently that one of my goals for this year was to visit EVERY Springfield-Greene County Park. After accomplishing that goal, I want to visit all the the Ozark Greenway trails not included in the park list and any other outdoor spaces that I discover.

I printed off a list of 102 Springfield-Greene Park facilities. Some of these are more or less duplicates--for instance the Dan Kinney Park and the Dan Kinney Family Center are separate listings along with other similar duplications. It appears that most of the Ozark Greenways trails are included as well. So my goal for the end of the summer...likely sooner...is to visit all 102 of these facilities.

The OCD part of me would have liked to check off the parks in alphabetical order but, of course, geographical order makes more sense. Today Charlie and I visited 10 of the parks/facilities on the list on the southeast side of Springfield, Missouri. Here are my thoughts/descriptions in the order we visited.

#1. Dan Kinney Park 2701 S. Blackman Road

We had never been to this location or any of the three facilities located at this address before, only driven by . This park is located on Blackman Rd. just north of Battlefield St. This is a newer park with handicap accessible playground equipment including accessible swings which I had never seen before. All of the equipment was of the new style and looked like a lot of fun. Along with a large jungle gym/slide apparatus with a ramp, there were bongo drums and speaking tubes. There is a 7/10th of a mile track around the perimeter of the park which we walked. The temperature outside was cool....about 45 degrees....and we were the only ones in the park.

#2. Miracle Field 2701 S. Blackman Road

This is a ballfield in Dan Kinney Park. It has a really nice electronic scoreboard with graphics and the entire field surface is artifical. There was nothing going on today and the staff member we spoke with inside the Dan Kinney Family Center wasn't sure what type of teams played here but according to the Park Bench publication, this is a 1/3 size barrier-free field designed especially for players with physical or developmental disabilities. The cushioned synthetic surface allows players to use walkers or wheelchairs. The entire facility is accessible.

 #3. Dan Kinney Family Center 2701 S. Blackman Road

This is a fitness center with machines, free weights, a gym, a room with a ping pong table, a room for classes, and a (very short-1/16th mile) indoor track. If there isn't a class going on, the classroom has a virtual class feature where you can select an activity and a large screen comes down and shows you a workout. There are memberships available for the facility and there is also a community room available for rent. There were several people using the equipment and a couple of people on the indoor track when we were there. The staff was very nice and informative and took us on a brief tour. We spent about 40 minutes total inside and out and walked 1.15 miles at Dan Kinney Park.

#4. Oak Grove Park 1538 S. Oak Grove

This park is north of Sunshine St. and south of Bennett St. on Oak Grove Ave. We lived close to this facility for several years so we had been here many times but not for probably 25 years and had primarily been inside the community center for ball games/practices, dance classes and Jazzercize classes. The park is very large and I don't think we had ever walked the entire park before. There is both a large modern play structure with slides plus the original swings, slide and jungle gym that were here 35 years ago when we first visited. There is also a sandbox and a 9 hole frisbee golf course. There were two groups playing frisbee golf when we were here. We walked the perimeter of the extensive grounds which were surrounded by houses, most with gates opening into the park. Charlie said he never knew that the park was this big!! We spent about 20 minutes here and walked 0.65 miles.

#5. Oak Grove Community Center 1538 S. Oak Grove

We didn't actually go inside today, just walked around outside. We have been in the gym several times years ago. There was a banner in the window advertising birthday parties with a bouncy house and a climbing wall and there were people arriving for a birthday party when we were there.

#6. Lurvey Park 950 S. Oak Grove

This small park is north of Grand St. on Oak Grove Ave. I had never known of this park's existence before today. It appears to have been around for awhile because the equipment was all older. This is a small neighborhood park with no parking. We had to park on Belmont St. and walk a short distance. There is a brown sign with the name at the dirt path entrance going between two houses. The only equipment is two swing sets-toddler and sling swings-and and older slide. It is completely surrounded by houses with gates opening into the park grounds and I imagine the only ones who use/know about it are immediate neighbors. We were the only ones here. We walked the perimeter and spent 8 minutes and walked a 1/4 of a mile.

#7. Ooley Park 2624 E. Monroe Terrace

This tiny park is is a couple of blocks north of Lurvey Park and a block east of Oak Grove Ave. and is about the size of a large residential lot. This park is in the elementary district my kids went to in the 80s so I had actually driven by here several times to take my kids to friends' houses but had never actually set foot on the grounds. There is no sign and no designated parking but space to park on the grass. This is another neighborhood park with only a few pieces of playground equipment and apparently also serves as a water retention area. There was a large culvert visible opening into the park and evidence of recent flooding.There were 2 swing sets and a newer bouncy dinosaur for small children. I probably spent a couple of minutes walking around and taking photos. There was no one else around.

#8. Miles Park Site of Bingham School Park 2000 E. Cherry

This small park is obviously right next to Bingham Elementary on Cherry St. just west of Barnes Ave. We have been here many, many times but not for over 20 years. My kids attended school at Bingham for 10 years and this was also about 4 blocks from our house and I frequently waited here for the kids to get out of school. There is now a modern play structure with a bouncy bulldozer and dinosaur plus the same swings and jungle gym my kids played on in the 80s as well as picnic tables and a small open pavillion with 2 tables. There are a couple of parking spots in the back of the park on Monroe Ave. and you can park off Cherry St. at the school if it is not in session. There is also additional playground equipment and an approximately 1/4 mile track on the Bingham grounds which are open to the public when school is not in session. There was one group of children here today. We spent 8 minutes here and walked about 1/4 mile.

#9. George Washington Carver Park 800 S. Belview

This is a 25 acre "natural area" between Grand St. and Cherry St. east of Barnes Ave. There is no sign, no marked parking, no facilities and no real indication that it is a city park. If you go to the Belview address(off Cherry St. east of Barnes Ave), there is a locked metal gate. There is also an entrance off Grand St. just west of Oak Grove Ave. with a wooden fence and a chain and no place to park at all. I went here once 25 years ago and recall it had lots of tall grass and piles of shredded tree limbs presumably dumped here by city crews. Parts of the area did appear to have been mowed today and we didn't see anyone else around.  We went by the Belview "entrance" first and it didn't look accessible and we weren't actually sure we were in the right place but I remembered there was an entrance off Grand(there used to be a sign here but it is gone now) so we drove around to Grand but didn't get out and walk around due to the lack of parking. We will probably try to come back and walk around some other time.
5/7/16 update: We attempted to visit this park back on 3/20, the first day of our park journey. Today we parked on Belview Ave. and had to duck under a wire to get into the park from here but there was a well-worn path. We then walked down a rutted service road through woods and it initially didn't seem like we were in a park at all but then it opened out into this surprising large mowed, open area surrounded by trees. It is mowed all the way up to the entrance on Grand St. but there is no parking on Grand at all. The area is really very nice and would be a great place to walk a dog or to just walk around. There are no amenities but someone has hung a tire from tree. I was pleasantly surprised at nice this ended up being and I am glad we came back.

#10. Meador Park 2500 S. Fremont

This park is just west of Glenstone Ave bordering the north side of the Battlefield Mall with an entrance and parking lots on Sunset St. as well as on Fremont Ave. This is another park that we have visited many times in the past but not recently. Charlie and some of the kids played ball at the multiple ball fields and the kids took swim lessons at the pool. We went to a few MSU Bears(when they were just SMSU) baseball games here before they moved to Hammons Field downtown. The Drury Panther softball teams play here now. There are multiple ball fields, a pool complex, tennis courts, small basketball courts, picnic tables, and a playground. It struck both of us that it didn't seem as nice as it used to when we were last here. The pool is literally a swimming pool with no modern play structures or slides like those found at some of the other city pools. There are marked swimming lanes and an bumped out, deep area with diving boards. There is also a large detached wading pool. The pool has recently undergone some repair and there was a pile of broken concrete outside the fence, some of the fence had been taken apart and had only bungee cords holding it closed and there visible concrete repair all around the pool. On the playground, there was a modern curved tube slide, a modern play structure and some small dinosaur play structures.The vintage jungle gym and swings were still there. There used to be this tall, silver, wedge-shaped "slide o' death" here years ago but it has apparently been replaced by the twisty tube slide.There was at least one ballgame going on and one family playing on the playground. We walked around the playground and outside the pool, spent 11 minutes and walked just under 1/2 a mile.

That was all for today. 10 down, 92 to go!! Overall, I think we spent around three hours on our park exploration including drive time. Hopefully, next time it will be warmer!!