Hellyer County Park
Trail Review
We cycled from the intersection of Tuers Rd and Brandybuck Way and rode the Coyote Creek Trail to Cottonwood Lake. At the lake, we rode the trail back to the washed out creek crossing, then through the side trail near Hellyer Dog Park, then back on Tuers Rd.
Coyote Creek Trail was as nice as ever, though we did spot large dog (I hope) feces in the middle of the trail. The trail probably had 1/3 shade coverage, which made for a perfect bike ride on a sunny day.
Tuers Rd was a detour we took on the way back due to a creek crossing being washed out. This road was a freshly paved road with minimal cars and was about as nice as a road could get for cycling with kids.
What I Learned
I didn’t know that the water level of Coyote Creek was still so high even though it hasn’t rained in a few weeks. I’m going to bet Anderson or some other Dam feeding Coyote Creek is still above its capacity and is just dumping water.
What Happened?
5.2 miles, 1 hr 8 mins, 210 ft of ascent
We were initially hoping for a bike ride at half moon bay, but I woke up late, so settled on a closer trail. After parking, I inflated the kid’s tires to spec, and we took a pretty relaxing bike ride.
We initially biked past the velodrome, but ran into a dead end at the closed creek crossing. So we hemmed and hawed, and thought about going north past our parked car until I saw the detour signage. So we biked through some side streets until we were reunited with the Coyote Creek Trail. This detour ended up being a great go, as I got to teach the girls about how to safely bike on neighborhood streets and how to hand signal.
At the lake, Kaylee was getting tired, so we turned around and made our way back on Coyote Creek Trail. We took another detour at the creek crossing, which led us to Tuers Rd, which was really nice. It has houses only on one side (the other butts up against parks; trees), which meant less car traffic and a relaxing pace.