Lake Marguerite-Griffith Woods

Lake Marguerite Wildlife Preserve and Griffith Woods Natural Area (9/4/2014)

We didn't have a lot of time today, so we decided to check out one of the smaller places that's been on my list for a while. It's in an area that we hiked less than 2.5 weeks ago when we visited Roaring Rock Park which is only about 1.3 miles away. Those wanting a longer hiking experience can drive from one place to the other and easily do both in one day (walking would add an extra 2.6 miles and all on traffic roads).

Following this map we did every trail in the park. We parked at the lot near the intersection of Brass Castle Road and Jonestown Road, headed north along the grassy path to Lake Marguerite where we startled a Great Blue Heron and Eastern Kingfisher (almost got photos!) We circled the lake clockwise picking up the Red trail and taking that north. This path was quite wild. There were a few blowdowns, easily navigated, but the high grass in some areas made it evident that this isn't a well-hiked path. At about the halfway point along the northern part of Red we took the White connector trail south to the southern path of Red, and took Red east. When we reached Blue we took that as an out-and-back all the way to Jonestown Road. The map indicates that parking is available at the southern end of Blue but it looked tight and overgrown. Back on Red we continued in a counter-clockwise direction once again heading south on White to the southern part of Red, which we took back to the car. We walked some of the winding paths in the grassy part just north of the lot. They're not on the map, but it doesn't appear to be private property.

Total distance hiked was 3.2 miles in 2.5 hours.

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