Trail Talk Thursday #11

This week's trail is located at Stayton's Quad-Parks that I have aptly named as there are four parks interconnected by one trail. These parks are Pioneer Park, Wilderness Park, Florence Street Park, and Riverfront Park. The trail that connects these is supposedly 5 km long, but has several offshoots that can make it longer or shorter. There is a Covered Bridge that marks the trailhead that starts in Pioneer Park. Once across the Stayton Ditch (what the covered bridge crosses, the trail continues through a wooded section known as Wilderness Park that contains a backwater pond where
Western Pond Turtles and swimming Garter Snakes can be seen. The trail then doubles back along another channel that contains a fish ladder before cutting the Stayton Ditch in half and connecting to the Florence Street Park. This park, like Pioneer Park, contains a parking lot. The trail continues across the footbridge beside the parking lot and continues into Riverfront Park which is half open and half forested. Near the end of this park, the trail makes a loop around the open meadow.