Murray Park

 Murray Park is a large park in well, Murray. It features a creek, an arboretum, playgrounds, pavilions, and lots of sports amenities. It has a lot of trail options to get some exercise. Today we explored the east loop and middle section. I meant to do the full thing today but uh, there were a couple bridges that were out of commission.

Today was a day that was threatening rain on and off all day. So I wanted to do something that would be a little easier to scramble back to the car if the skies let loose.

Quick Details:

Length: We did about a 1.2 mile loop, but there is more to be explored.
Trail Type: Loop
Difficulty: DR3. Mostly flat and paved, with some unpaved sections.
Elevation Gain: NA. It is pretty flat.
Restroom: Yes, several.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

From i15 take exit 300 for 5300 south in Murray and head east. Go about 8/10th of a mile, cross state street and then take the first left onto Murray Park Lane. Go about 2/10ths of a mile and turn right. Go another 2/10ths of a mile and find somewhere to park.

The Trail:

Little Cottonwood Creek is a bit high right now.

Lots of trail splits! Today I decided to just keep right to ensure we did the outer loop.

When I first say this sign I assumed the bridge might have been inundated with the swollen creek…. We did have a record breaking snowfall this year.

But no, the bridge has been completely removed!

The creek again.

Another trail split. Again, we kept right.

Looking back towards the missing bridge.

The creek.

Nice forested section.

The problem with doing these big parks is that there are a lot of people, particularly on nice days. So I tend to take less pictures.

Some hills above the soccer fields.

Huh. I didn’t know about this little pond.

Where the creek rushes in.

One of the bridges that is still in service.

Upstream.

Downstream.

Little swampy area.

Crossing the creek took us off course from the loop and we ended up in this parking lot on the north east side of the park.

The creek again.

Little rapid.

Moody skies.

Before long we found our way back to the main loop. Our little detour couldn’t have added too much. Looks like it was about 2/10ths of a mile.

Pretty trees.

From the other side.

Closer view of the flowers.

The other side of the soccer fields.

Another little forested part. It looks like there might be volleyball courts up on the little mound.

The aquatic center.

 A baseball diamond.

I like the fancy stone bleachers.

Incoming storm.

Tulips. I like the purple ones.

Before long we found our way into the Joan M. Hardle Memorial Arboretum.

Closer look at the flowers.

The creek again.

Pidgeon's

Duckies!

Pretty tree.

Closer look at the blossoms.

Squirrel.

Little pond, with some ducklings!

Better view of the ducklings. Super cute.

More flowering trees.

Neat stairway into a little grove. There were people taking graduation photos in there so we did not go and explore it.

Well. My original plan was to cross the creek and explore the front (west) end of the park but uh… well the bridge is out. Dang. It looks like that would have added approximately a half mile, depending on how you decided to do it.

Looking back towards the out of service bridge again.

Ducks cruising down with the current. We have noticed that it appears that ducks may do this for fun. We have observed ducks fly upstream, just to ride the current downstream. Perhaps there is some other reason they do it, but it honestly just looks like its for fun.

Little side stream path.

The creek again.

Another bridge that is still in service. This really didn’t help the loop we were doing but we decided to get on and observe the creek.

Upstream.

Downstream.

Eventually there should be a trail that follows the creek from here all the way down to the Little Cottonwood Confluence. It does not appear to be done just yet though.

Continuing through the arboretum.

Pink and red flowering trees.

Creek, mountains, and storm clouds.

Pidgeon's.

We found the first missing bridge in the parking lot.

Pidgeon's and ducks. I didn’t know they hung out together.

Neat sign (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Well, the day did not go quite as planned. I did not anticipate the bridge closures. But we explored more of the park than I have done before so that was fun. I also appreciate getting to enjoy one of our major creeks. The park is quite busy though! Wow, lots of people. Going with 7 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, It’s flat, and mostly paved so DR3. There are fully paved options that could make it a DR2 as well.

Dogs are allowed, but should remain leashed at all times.

Jordan River Parkway: Germania Park

 It’s starting to warm up, finally, so my friends and I have started our weekly walks again. We have a couple spots we like to go, but we particularly enjoy the section on the Jordan River Parkway between 54th and 48th and will do varying lengths along it. It’s a particularly scenic section that offers quite a few different paths to take.

Quick Details:

Length: We did about 1.57 miles out and back. The full section is about 3 miles out and back or balloon.
Trail Type: Out and back, connector, balloon option.
Difficulty: DR3. Its flat, and you have a paved option, but we prefer the non paved trail.
Elevation Gain: NA its pretty flat.
Restroom: There is one in Germania Park (north), as well as one in Arrowhead Park if you make it that far.
Dogs? Yes, but should remain leashed at all times.
Other Info: Cities: Murray. JRP Mile Markers: 28

To Get Here:

From i15 take exit 300 for 5300 South in Murray. Head west for about a mile, 53rd will curve and become 54th. Turn right on Murray Parkway Ave. Go about go about 70 feet and turn left into Germania Park (South).

The Trail:

This section has a paralleled dirt equestrian path. We generally prefer the dirt path here because it is closer to the river.

This is one of the reasons why. We were treated with a cormorant airing out today.

I love my little walking group. We are all little nature nerds, but some of us have our niche interests. Elise is all about flowers, and she can usually tell us what flowers we see. I’m the bird nerd. So I can generally identify the bird, and sometimes, like now, explain what exactly they are doing.

A little closer.

Cormorants are diving birds. They dive underwater looking for fish to eat. So when they are done doing that they will stand on the shore and extend their wings like this to dry out.

It’s kind of intimidating, honestly.

I almost didn’t bring my telephoto lens today, I am glad that I decided to bring it!

So neat!

Streeeetch!

I like how he keeps looking both directions.

Different angle.

Again.

Its really starting to green up!

The river.

The trees are starting to fill in.

River.

The trail again.

Mountains.

More forest greening up.

Better mountain views.

I think this is a bullocks oriole. They are the birds who create the sock like nests you see along the parkway. I was not very good at describing the sock like appearance of the nest to my friends so I said, I am pretty sure we will see one. We did eventually, luckily.

Bridge over the river. This is roughly about halfway. Between 53rd and 45th.

From the side.

Downstream.

Upstream.

Muskrat! This is the first time I caught one out of the water. I’ve seen them out of the water before, just never caught a decent shot of it.

Foraging.

Wow! I have seen potguts, and pikas gathering plants but this is the first time I caught a muskrat doing it.

Back into the water.

It looked like his intention was to head upstream.

However the river current had other ideas and pushed him downstream.

It was kind of amusing for all of us seeing him apparently struggle against the current,

But after drifting under the bridge we were on he started heading towards the bank.

I think he ended up almost exactly where he intended to. I mean, these guys live in the river and are likely used to navigating it.

Downstream again.

Like I said, the bridge was our destination today so we started back.

Various shots of the river.

Nice forested spot.

Mountains.

Finally I found a sock type nest to show the group. These are the kind of nests bullocks orioles make. This particular example the bird found some blue fiber to weave into her nest.

Thick brush.

Almost full moon.

I am glad we have restarted our walks again. We go a little slower than our regular walks due to different levels of health. However that allows us to slow down and pay more attention to our surroundings. We had a fun wildlife day! It was a little busier than usual today as its one of the first nice days after a long brutal winter, but it wasn’t too bad. 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, we chose to do the non paved horse path. It’s still flat and pretty easy dr3. There is a paved option as well, so DR2 for that.

Dogs are allowed, but should remain leashed at all times.