As a child, I grew up less than a mile from Stephens Park, and my summers where spent running and biking through these very same woods. In fact some of these trails are the exact same trails I used as a short cut coming home from middle school. So when I heard that FORC was working hard to turn this ravine into an off road cycling paradise, I was more than a little excited. The first trail I find is located right behind the tennis courts. The path starts off fast racing down a hill and crossing the creek that divides the ravine into two sections. Once on the other side it’s a steady but not exhausting climb that loops you back to your starting point. Just as I reach the top I notice another trail shooting off towards 7th street.
Being that it’s a Monday morning and everyone is at work or school, I have the whole park to myself and nowhere to hurry off to, so I decide to trek on and see where it leads. This time the trail takes me along the upper rim of the ravine. It’s a much slower path, due to all the twists and turns, but it’s still an enjoyable ride. Eventually I end up on the north side of the park, in what used to be Lutheran Hospital. The hospital is long gone (tore down in the 90’s) but lots of rubble remains.
I remember visiting this hospital when I was younger, visiting my grandmother, who worked in the cafeteria, during the summer months I would stop in on occasion and eat lunch with her on my way to the park. I peddle along deeper into the woods, passing a long stair case leading up from 5th street to where the hospital used to sit. I remember back during my high school years my father would bring me to this stair case and I would run wind sprints up and down over and over, to get in shape for wrestling season.
The trail opens up and it’s a much faster ride now, with no twists or turns, just when I get my bike up to full speed, something catches my eye off to the left of the trail. I hit my brakes sliding to a stop, and turning around. I can hardly believe my eyes, standing just a couple feet off the trail is a large female deer. I park my bike and pull out my camera, walking right up within a couple feet of the deer, snapping a couple pictures before she slowly walks away into the woods.
I spend about two hours twisting, turning, and climbing all the different trails that Stephens has to offer. By the end of my ride I’m completely exhausted and ready for lunch. It was my first time riding these trails, and while they do not have the super-fast tracks of Saunderburch Park, or the challenges of the black diamond trails, the paths at Stephens offer something different. It offers an escape from the present world, and a look back into the past. The rubble from the former hospitals is scattered all over the park, and while some may see this as an eye sore, to me it was like riding through ancient ruins. Everywhere I looked was something else that took me back to my child-hood. FORC has done an amazing job turning an old overgrown ravine into another great trail system.