Carpenter Park in Springfield IL

If you're looking for a simple, secluded, and beautiful place to hike and observe nature near Springfield, IL, this is an ideal spot.  Dirt paths crisscross this 434 acre park next to the Sangamon river, providing some really great views.  Sit down next to the river, and enjoy some peace and quiet.  I recently had a doe and two fawns walk by as I was sitting next to the river, and have run across dozens hiking off the trails, so sit long enough or walk far enough and you might get to see them or their friends.  The entrance to this park is just inside the entrance to the Rail Golf Course.   Pick and choose your hiking style, you can walk fairly easy flat paths, or venture off for some fairly rugged climbing up steep banks.  Not quite the mountains, but you can work up a pretty good sweat here if you want to go off the beaten path a little. 

It is easy to hike for 5-10 miles here if you want to get off the beaten path, this runs into Gurgen's Park which is another 270 acres.  I would recommend a GPS app like AllSport GPS for the Android until you get used to the terrain, you can follow the river but it winds quite a bit so being able to take a little more direct path for the trip back might be helpful.

Treasure Hunts!
Looking for a little more adventure?  Check http://www.letterboxing.org/ and http://www.geocaching.com/ to see if there are any treasures to be found today!  If not, why not hide something so that the next person can find it?



More Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_Park
http://www.springfieldparks.org/parks/carpenter.asp
Location: Carpenter Park, Springfield, IL 62707, USA

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