Middle Creek Wildlife Park is an absolutely beautiful place for family hiking. There are 12 hiking trails at Middle Creek and they are all clearly marked. Here are 3 of the trails we have hiked at Middle Creek (this is where you see the snow geese every year!)
The Visitor Center is now closed, but the roads and scenic tours remain open from sunrise to sunset. The Chapel Road is only open to bicycles and foot traffic. All trails are still accessible and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy nature and its beauty, especially as spring is coming quickly.
Please check their website before you go just to make sure nothing has changed.
Conservation Trail #1
On the map shown above, the first trail is the Conservation Trail. It starts at the museum office and loops back to the lower parking lot at the office.
We hiked this trail in October and I think it took us about an hour or a little more. It’s a really neat trail, because it has some wooded platform areas that kids love to run on. It’s like they are at the boardwalk! 🙂
It does have some steep inclines, but they don’t last too long. We consider this a family-friendly trail and when we hiked it with another family, all the kids ranged in age from 3-14. We had no problems, just follow the signs.
Valley View Trail
The Valley View Trail, #9, starts at Laurel Drive and ends up at a lookout. This is a shorter hike, good for little kids, but you still get a great view of the lake and the area when you reach the top. You can explore the top of the hill a little before hiking back down if you want to spend a little more time. We spent about an hour when we hiked this trail.
You could also continue taking #9a trail to connect to the longer Horseshoe Trail, or you could loop back to the beginning using trail #8, Fire Line Trail. You have lots of options! 🙂
Millstone Trail
This is a longer trail at 1.2 miles. It is a loop that take you up the mountain to a beautiful lookout and then back down the other side, ending up where you started.
Park at the White Oak Picnic Area and hike up the mountain first. After you come back down the mountain follow the instructions below to go to the lake before you leave.
This is a perfect Sunday-afternoon family hike. Even in cold weather, you’ll probably break a sweat hiking up, and need to take breaks. Take it slow and enjoy it if going with kids. There are some good break points. It is doable!
And checkout the view when you reach the top. It is worth it!
Be sure to go to the lake before you leave. From the parking lot, towards the lake, there is an additional small trail—not very far at all—this area is really neat and you won’t want to miss it. It does get muddy though so be careful.
Middle Creek Resources
The hiking trail guide can be downloaded directly from the Middle Creek website. I recommend printing this before you go if you’re not using an app like AllTrails, just in case they don’t have copies available for at the main building.
You can also download the full Wildlife Managment Area map.
Additionally, Middle Creek has an extensive collection of resources for furthering your kids education. Here are just a few you might be interested in. Please find the full list on their website.
- Self-Directed Curriculum – these are really well-done guides that you can do with your kids to learn more about local wildlife in very fun ways
- Wing-it!
- The Nose Knows
- Wildlife Tracks
- Skull King
- Scatalogy – (FYI: animal poop guide!)
- Feet are Neat
More FREE wildlife printables that are really awesome!
- Wildlife Student Guide – download a complete 58 page coloring book of animals to color – this is incredible!!
- Do you know me? – this is printable game you can play with your kids to guess the eyes of various animals
- Can you tell? – download a printable where students identify birds and animals
This FREE App is a must!
One more resource I highly recommend for when you go hiking. Download the app SEEK. This is so much fun! You can use it to take photos of leaves, ferns, tree bark, trees, bushes, animals, insects, whatever you find—and it identifies it for you!! Check this out >>
