Review
If you love running on dirt roads around grass fields, this is THE loop for you! This is a solid alternative to the East Loop for hitting 2 miles at Phipps Park. Just be warned, you will see very little wilderness on this route.
This route is unique in that you leave the parking lot not from the conventional route from the Soccer Fields, but instead from the Baseball Fields on the connector trail. Let me fill you in on what the Baseball Fields to Parking lot connector trail is: it is a very direct route which connects the Forest Meadows Parking lot to the Baseball Fields through the small bit of woods that separate them. Be warned of the directness of this trail. It pierces through the wilderness completely straight, plunging directly up hills and yielding to no obstacles, no terrain, no authority.
After this brief jump through the wilderness, the rest of the route follows dirt roads that circumnavigate sports fields. You begin by completing a lap and a half around the Baseball Field, a 0.2-mile perimeter square. You then enter the trail which connects the Baseball Field to the Soccer Field, get another fleeting glimpse of nature's wonders, before completing the rest of your run by navigating around the perimeter of the Soccer Field complex.
The best part about this route is that you get to watch a lot of kids play sports and question yourself why you are even running! And you will not have that pesky nature around you to distract you from the natural beauty of wide dirt roads that look completely man made! In all seriousness, these wide dirt roads are very easy to follow and are the easiest trails possible to run down since there are absolutely zero tripping hazards or anything to get it in your way.
Rating: Out of 10