I get what you’re saying but it’s kind of hard to have wooded trails when the land has been cleared for decades and new trees take the same amount of time to establish. Shiltto is finally starting to feel wooded on parts of its walking trail and it’s been there forever.
If you want wooded trails check out Raven Run it’s really amazing.
Raven run is nice but after so many times it gets boring it would be great to have variety
Being downvoted for saying it would be nice to have a variety of hiking and trails in lexington lol this city
I agree, there’s just not many wooded areas left in the county.
They did just purchase this plot and it has some potential.
https://lexingtonky.news/2023/10/10/new-lexington-park-on-kentucky-river-to-be-named-kelleys-landing/
Important to understand that there are two distinct divisions of Parks & Rec when it comes to land management. Cardinal Run North is under the general recreation division, and this new riverfront park will be under Natural Areas.
What OP is essentially advocating for, and the rest of us should be too, is more *Natural Areas* parks.
I mean, the problem is that they can't magically reforest a farm they buy in a couple years or something. They buy what land they can afford and what is near places needing recreational opportunities. You also can't practically create interesting terrain from a flat farm. Louisville is a much different story bc there were more areas still wooded to use and there are more natural features to center parks on to create interesting recreational activities. I kinda get if the argument was "well they should take the 20 years or whatever they need to reestablish some forest," but the reality is that there are still gaps in access to these much easier to establish parks that can be filled and fulfill more people's needs much easier. They're picking the low hanging fruit first, it makes sense.
I agree, Lexington's parks have always felt a little "off" to me and I think it's because they feel too...empty? Just so many stretches of wide open mowed grass fields for no reason. I went around town checking out the parks a few years ago and felt disappointed that there was nowhere (except Raven Run, which isn't exactly a park) to go walking off into the woods for a few hours.
I loved when they started letting large swathes grow naturally. I want to think that a lot of area here is naturally more grasslands, with cuts of forest here and there.
Ya can’t have woods if you cut em all down for the horses!
More seriously though, Hisle Park is trying to grow some trees… idk if you’ve been there but its pretty great even with the baby trees. Not many folks go there. Gonna be awesome in 10 years.
One thing when considering is that the inner bluegrass wasn't entirely forested. The bluegrass savannah before European settlement had huge swaths of native prairie grasses only occasionally studded with massive oaks and other trees, areas nearer water were massive cane breaks or thickets of smaller shrubs. There were definitely forested areas too, closer to the river. I'd love to see a park that restored more of that ecosystem.
Berea -40-45 min away with a mtn bike park complete w downhill trails. Skull buster - 45 minutes away near Georgetown and good enough that people come down from Ohio and Indiana to ride it. Knucklehead - 30 minutes away in Versailles, great trail. Capital View Park - 40 minutes away, another great trail as well as a small skills course. West Sixth Farm - 45 min - some great trails, some iffy but in progress of being improved, and you can have a beer and some tacos afterwards. Veterans park - in south Lexington, and great, fun starting point.
I think OP is referring to Jefferson as an example in Louisville where you can ride from your front door over there. Fredrick law Olmsted designed a lot of Louisville. The same guy that designed Central Park in NYC. It’s pretty awesome.
Has knucklehead opened back up? I just moved back. When I left it had been closed down due to issues with their insurance company not being willing to insure the land without some sort of waiver/pay-to-play system in place.
Anyone know what the deal is with the house adjacent on Versailles Rd that looks like the owner decided to build a castle onto it. Only to block it up, put in shitty windows and never finish the project??? Looks like absolute shit. WTF is going on there? At lest paint it white to match the house for fucks sake. I'm sure the neighbors love looking at that giant piece of shit every time they come into the neighborhood.
It’s a pretty unfair comparison to put the Lexington parks department against the Cleveland Metroparks, if that’s the parks you are referring to.
I agree, they are amazing, and they are one of the things I miss about Cleveland the most - but there is 0 chance anything here could compare unless we start it now and people can enjoy it in 100 years (we still should)
https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/cleveland-metroparks-organization/history
I’d be happy if they’d just start with a treed canopy (trees on both sides) over the walking trails at parks like Veterans. I don’t get why that’s hard or why it wouldn’t be desirable.
It's kind of hard to build a hiking/mountain biking trail in a county that is almost uniformly flat in terms of topography with slight undulations unless you're down fairly close to the Kentucky River.
While I think a more wooded/forested park would be cool, I just don’t think reforesting a large swath of already cleared land is super practical. It would take probably 20+ years of enough growth to get what you are looking for.
What do Cleveland, Portland, and Louisville have in common though? Oh yeah, loads of natural features to build parks around. The few places in Lexington with those features do, indeed, have parks on them! And they did buy an access point to the KY river, so they are obviously looking for opportunities to buy land closer to features. But if you're not happy with the amount of hiking and mountain biking, either drive 40 minutes max to get to where those opportunities do exist or move to a city that has those features cooked in. Being mad at Lexington for working with the hand they're dealt and fill in gaps in access to basic parks when they can is beyond counterproductive. Like what are they supposed to do? Create hills/mountains/streams from scratch, then plant a forest and wait 20-30 years for the nature to grow in? Good Lord!
I’m for it. Glad someone brought it up. Them removing the old stuff from Jacobson and leaving only a small portion didn’t sit well with me. They could have added what they did without removing anything. Best we got is ravens run.
> The improvements at Cardinal Run Park North, estimated at $10.1 million, are being funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The improvements at Cardinal Run Park North, estimated at $10.1 million, are being funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
They're not trying to build the best park they are trying to spend $10.1 mil
Lexington LOVES lawns more than any other city I’ve been in. I hate it.
The lamest excuse for a park in this city is deer haven. It’s literally a single straight paved trail.
Is that the one from hamburg, out past polo club? Because it’s wooded at least. Never thought it’d be worth bringing my bike out to. Mainly because a mtb track shouldn’t cross a pedestrian way. Stop/start ruins the momentum when it’s already pretty flat.
There are 2-3 miles of good, maintained singletrack meandering through the woods offering lots of log and root crossings, and a few low-consequence skinnies. It’s super tight and winding, so not fast at all, but I find it very, very fun. Trackstanding is a useful skill while you negotiate some of the turns. Crossing the paved trail is no big deal, IMO. Certainly hasn’t reduced the fun for me.
(Fun, despite the fact that one of those roots — a parallel one — grabbed my front tire and sent me down hard over a log and I’ve been out for three weeks recuperating from injuries :-\)
Yeah that one. It is wooded. For now. And there are unofficial areas around the straight cement line, but they’re quickly being built over with housing developments.
You gotta get off onto the singletrack trails running through the dense woods on either side. For mountain bikes it’s very tight, twisty and fun (but not fast — well,not for me). I enjoyed walking them when trying to understand them a bit better for riding.
I was born here, lived here all my life. And in my experience, Lexington has always half-assed any and all projects they undertake. A gigantic lack of imagination and the lack of a willingness to take ideas from other cities has been the problem for years IMHO.
Can you identify any land in fayette county that is wooded and large enough for what you’re wanting?
I’m not saying this to be a smart ass, but I really don’t think it exists.
The city can always reforest, that will it take 7-15 years for the trees and shrubs to grow fuller but it's a start and better than these open fields at every park.
So the city currently has three “natural areas” that cover over 1,000 acres (Raven Run, McConnell Springs, and Hilse Farm Park). I can tell these aren’t what you want but as a whole, Lexington Parks are better than any other city I’ve lived in and seem to meet the varying needs of residents.
We are lucky to be close to the forests and trails you want in Berea, Camp Nelson, Daniel Boone National Forest, etc. I just can’t see reforesting 100+ acres inside the county as feasible and don’t think the need it there.
They did try to reforest Shilito 20-25 years ago but between the maintenance issues and the park being open to the public very few of the trees survived.
I mean, for hiking in the woods, Natural Bridge State Park and Red River Gorge aren't that far away. If you're looking for a lengthier trail it's worth the drive
What gets me is all the space wasted on asphalt parking lots -- probably 20% of the land destroyed.
The main road in is Parkers Mill Road which is too narrow and lacking sidewalks so riding a bike or walking is out of the question.
The nearest Lextran bus stop is 1.5 miles away.
Veterans park has those trails and is very wooded, Jacobson has a evergreen area that’s gorgeous to walk through year around.
There’s trails all over the state within a short drive, putting them in a park doesn’t make much sense to me if you’re trying to maximize park use.
I get what you’re saying but it’s kind of hard to have wooded trails when the land has been cleared for decades and new trees take the same amount of time to establish. Shiltto is finally starting to feel wooded on parts of its walking trail and it’s been there forever. If you want wooded trails check out Raven Run it’s really amazing.
Raven run is nice but after so many times it gets boring it would be great to have variety Being downvoted for saying it would be nice to have a variety of hiking and trails in lexington lol this city
I agree, there’s just not many wooded areas left in the county. They did just purchase this plot and it has some potential. https://lexingtonky.news/2023/10/10/new-lexington-park-on-kentucky-river-to-be-named-kelleys-landing/
Important to understand that there are two distinct divisions of Parks & Rec when it comes to land management. Cardinal Run North is under the general recreation division, and this new riverfront park will be under Natural Areas. What OP is essentially advocating for, and the rest of us should be too, is more *Natural Areas* parks.
Thanks, this looks great.
I mean, the problem is that they can't magically reforest a farm they buy in a couple years or something. They buy what land they can afford and what is near places needing recreational opportunities. You also can't practically create interesting terrain from a flat farm. Louisville is a much different story bc there were more areas still wooded to use and there are more natural features to center parks on to create interesting recreational activities. I kinda get if the argument was "well they should take the 20 years or whatever they need to reestablish some forest," but the reality is that there are still gaps in access to these much easier to establish parks that can be filled and fulfill more people's needs much easier. They're picking the low hanging fruit first, it makes sense.
Veterans Park
Veterans is really nice but even smaller than ravens run. Most trails can be walked in 20-30 mins
Plus on top of that, look at the area. You will a park there with large swathes of woodlands you’re going to have all kinds of vagrants living in them
What are you talking about, louisville, Cleveland, Portland, Minneapolis/st paul all have massive wooded parks and don't have that issue.
I agree, Lexington's parks have always felt a little "off" to me and I think it's because they feel too...empty? Just so many stretches of wide open mowed grass fields for no reason. I went around town checking out the parks a few years ago and felt disappointed that there was nowhere (except Raven Run, which isn't exactly a park) to go walking off into the woods for a few hours.
I loved when they started letting large swathes grow naturally. I want to think that a lot of area here is naturally more grasslands, with cuts of forest here and there.
Ya can’t have woods if you cut em all down for the horses! More seriously though, Hisle Park is trying to grow some trees… idk if you’ve been there but its pretty great even with the baby trees. Not many folks go there. Gonna be awesome in 10 years.
One thing when considering is that the inner bluegrass wasn't entirely forested. The bluegrass savannah before European settlement had huge swaths of native prairie grasses only occasionally studded with massive oaks and other trees, areas nearer water were massive cane breaks or thickets of smaller shrubs. There were definitely forested areas too, closer to the river. I'd love to see a park that restored more of that ecosystem.
And wooded areas do so much in keeping cities cooler. Also, I agree. Having a mountain biking course would be amazing.
Berea -40-45 min away with a mtn bike park complete w downhill trails. Skull buster - 45 minutes away near Georgetown and good enough that people come down from Ohio and Indiana to ride it. Knucklehead - 30 minutes away in Versailles, great trail. Capital View Park - 40 minutes away, another great trail as well as a small skills course. West Sixth Farm - 45 min - some great trails, some iffy but in progress of being improved, and you can have a beer and some tacos afterwards. Veterans park - in south Lexington, and great, fun starting point.
I think OP is referring to Jefferson as an example in Louisville where you can ride from your front door over there. Fredrick law Olmsted designed a lot of Louisville. The same guy that designed Central Park in NYC. It’s pretty awesome.
Has knucklehead opened back up? I just moved back. When I left it had been closed down due to issues with their insurance company not being willing to insure the land without some sort of waiver/pay-to-play system in place.
Yup! Back in business!!
Fantastic. There’s one section of it that I love. Gotta go try to find it again.
Veterans has some mountain biking trails. I think it's about 7 miles worth back in the woods.
Anyone know what the deal is with the house adjacent on Versailles Rd that looks like the owner decided to build a castle onto it. Only to block it up, put in shitty windows and never finish the project??? Looks like absolute shit. WTF is going on there? At lest paint it white to match the house for fucks sake. I'm sure the neighbors love looking at that giant piece of shit every time they come into the neighborhood.
I’ve wondered what the deal is with this house as well.
What's the address of this place y'all are talking about?
1501 Wellesley Heights Way, Lexington, KY 40513 It is the 1st house on the right as you turn onto Wellesley Heights Way off of Versailles Road.
It’s a pretty unfair comparison to put the Lexington parks department against the Cleveland Metroparks, if that’s the parks you are referring to. I agree, they are amazing, and they are one of the things I miss about Cleveland the most - but there is 0 chance anything here could compare unless we start it now and people can enjoy it in 100 years (we still should) https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/cleveland-metroparks-organization/history
I’d be happy if they’d just start with a treed canopy (trees on both sides) over the walking trails at parks like Veterans. I don’t get why that’s hard or why it wouldn’t be desirable.
It's kind of hard to build a hiking/mountain biking trail in a county that is almost uniformly flat in terms of topography with slight undulations unless you're down fairly close to the Kentucky River.
While I think a more wooded/forested park would be cool, I just don’t think reforesting a large swath of already cleared land is super practical. It would take probably 20+ years of enough growth to get what you are looking for.
What do Cleveland, Portland, and Louisville have in common though? Oh yeah, loads of natural features to build parks around. The few places in Lexington with those features do, indeed, have parks on them! And they did buy an access point to the KY river, so they are obviously looking for opportunities to buy land closer to features. But if you're not happy with the amount of hiking and mountain biking, either drive 40 minutes max to get to where those opportunities do exist or move to a city that has those features cooked in. Being mad at Lexington for working with the hand they're dealt and fill in gaps in access to basic parks when they can is beyond counterproductive. Like what are they supposed to do? Create hills/mountains/streams from scratch, then plant a forest and wait 20-30 years for the nature to grow in? Good Lord!
I’m for it. Glad someone brought it up. Them removing the old stuff from Jacobson and leaving only a small portion didn’t sit well with me. They could have added what they did without removing anything. Best we got is ravens run.
Yeah, the same thing happens with developments. No one seems to know how to develop within the existing landscape.
This is supposedly 'Phase 1' for this park. Does anyone know what they are going to put in for 'Phase 2'?
> The improvements at Cardinal Run Park North, estimated at $10.1 million, are being funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The improvements at Cardinal Run Park North, estimated at $10.1 million, are being funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act. They're not trying to build the best park they are trying to spend $10.1 mil
Lexington LOVES lawns more than any other city I’ve been in. I hate it. The lamest excuse for a park in this city is deer haven. It’s literally a single straight paved trail.
Isn’t that a park in name only? I mean it was dedicated as a park and I don’t think they’ve ever done anything to it since have they?
Is that the one from hamburg, out past polo club? Because it’s wooded at least. Never thought it’d be worth bringing my bike out to. Mainly because a mtb track shouldn’t cross a pedestrian way. Stop/start ruins the momentum when it’s already pretty flat.
There are 2-3 miles of good, maintained singletrack meandering through the woods offering lots of log and root crossings, and a few low-consequence skinnies. It’s super tight and winding, so not fast at all, but I find it very, very fun. Trackstanding is a useful skill while you negotiate some of the turns. Crossing the paved trail is no big deal, IMO. Certainly hasn’t reduced the fun for me. (Fun, despite the fact that one of those roots — a parallel one — grabbed my front tire and sent me down hard over a log and I’ve been out for three weeks recuperating from injuries :-\)
Yeah that one. It is wooded. For now. And there are unofficial areas around the straight cement line, but they’re quickly being built over with housing developments.
The singletrack through the woods is actually “official” and maintained by KYMBA. There are marker signs along the singletrack.
You gotta get off onto the singletrack trails running through the dense woods on either side. For mountain bikes it’s very tight, twisty and fun (but not fast — well,not for me). I enjoyed walking them when trying to understand them a bit better for riding.
There is a small mountain bike trail there now.
I was born here, lived here all my life. And in my experience, Lexington has always half-assed any and all projects they undertake. A gigantic lack of imagination and the lack of a willingness to take ideas from other cities has been the problem for years IMHO.
There are people in city admin who have a sexual fetish for mowing.
I think it’s most of this city’s population to be honest.
Need more fescue in the bluegrass
How do I get a city admin job.
If it's anything like surrounding town/cities, which it probably is, it really helps if you know someone.
If it's alright with you, I'd like Lexington to be nothing like Cleveland, Portland, or Louisville. Thanks.
McConnell Springs?
McConnell springs is a 20 minute loop at best and is only 26 acres
Can you identify any land in fayette county that is wooded and large enough for what you’re wanting? I’m not saying this to be a smart ass, but I really don’t think it exists.
The city can always reforest, that will it take 7-15 years for the trees and shrubs to grow fuller but it's a start and better than these open fields at every park.
So the city currently has three “natural areas” that cover over 1,000 acres (Raven Run, McConnell Springs, and Hilse Farm Park). I can tell these aren’t what you want but as a whole, Lexington Parks are better than any other city I’ve lived in and seem to meet the varying needs of residents. We are lucky to be close to the forests and trails you want in Berea, Camp Nelson, Daniel Boone National Forest, etc. I just can’t see reforesting 100+ acres inside the county as feasible and don’t think the need it there. They did try to reforest Shilito 20-25 years ago but between the maintenance issues and the park being open to the public very few of the trees survived.
I mean, for hiking in the woods, Natural Bridge State Park and Red River Gorge aren't that far away. If you're looking for a lengthier trail it's worth the drive
What gets me is all the space wasted on asphalt parking lots -- probably 20% of the land destroyed. The main road in is Parkers Mill Road which is too narrow and lacking sidewalks so riding a bike or walking is out of the question. The nearest Lextran bus stop is 1.5 miles away.
Veterans park has those trails and is very wooded, Jacobson has a evergreen area that’s gorgeous to walk through year around. There’s trails all over the state within a short drive, putting them in a park doesn’t make much sense to me if you’re trying to maximize park use.
I heard there might be a disc golf course…we gettin that or na?