Crosswinds Marsh

I'd seen Crosswinds Marsh on the map a few times and it didn't look like much until I did some investigating and found there are several miles of really good trail there. A few weeks back I stopped in for a few minutes to grab a picture of the trail map though I didn't have time to do anything that day.


On this New Year's Eve I had the morning free and wanted to get at least 10 miles in and so Crosswinds seemed like the perfect place. I decided to try and hit all the trails and map them out as I went.

It was a fairly chilly mid to upper 20s out and somewhat breezy at start. I did the horse loop first which was pretty much a double track crushed rock trail, easy to follow. I then did some of the small inner loops near the trailhead which were mostly on boardwalks with the occasional section of matted grass. I moved on to the Bald Eagle trail which was more double-track crushed gravel until the last quarter mile or so which was double-track grass trail with some dirt in a small section of woods.

The park was very picturesque in views which made for a relaxing pleasurable running environment. I doubled back on the Bald Eagle trail and then hit the Woodpecker Loop to get all of those trails. This section was probably the most dirt trail I found, but it was still all double-track and easy to follow. I headed north next on the Blue Heron and it began as more double-track crushed rock. At a junction where the trail cuts right into the woods and a service drive continues left I missed the turn. The rest of Blue Heron was mostly on grass. Blue Heron ends at the Muskrat trail which was also in the woods and fairly scenic and this is what I finished on. At the end I had hit almost exactly 12 miles of trail having doubled up on several sections of it.

Here I wish to provide the KML I made of all the trails for anyone to share and make use of (at your own risk of course).

My Tracks 

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Pictures:
I tried to grab pictures of the trails as I went along to give an idea of what things look like. Again, I'd recommend this as a place to check out. If you're wishing for good single-track dirt trail you won't find it, but this is a great place for picturesque running and hiking and some easy, flat miles to get in.

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