Gunpowder Creek Nature Park

"This trail was downhill on the way and uphill on the return. It was a quiet place."

"A good hike with elevation change, creek views, and shaded trails. My dog loves splashing in the creek. Good stone skipping spots as well. Save some energy for the walk up to the parking lot."

"Place has some groomed hiking trails either of gravel, or dirt, and at times there was deep sand. I don't know what the trails are rated but I would give it a moderate to difficult rating for the route we followed. I wouldn't bring a wheel chair to use as it starts with a large, steep, graveled trail going down for what seems forever. And coming back up is exhausting to walk. I also wouldn't recommend taking young children or toddlers. There are several paths off the main trail. I also saw a Roman style theatre seating as we descended the first hill. There were several branches of Gunpowder Creek which wound it's way through the bottoms of the area. Some areas of dry ground were large islands. There were many large, deep areas of water (couldn't see bottom and current was swift), and many very quick moving shallow areas (less than 2 ft deep). Beautiful and scenic, but not a place I'd take someone who didn't swim. On an island across a very large, deep pool of water I could see part of ruins of an old rock wall. I saw four fishermen while there and was told that the Creek was regularly stocked with trout. There is a nice parking area at the top of the park at the entrance. This parking area is next to a playground and the only public bathrooms here, so use them before your venture."

"I visited here a couple days after Valentine’s Day in February of 2022. What a beautiful hidden gem of a park! The creek is absolutely stunning / The water is crystal clear & some of the rocks in the creek are a fluorescent green color that I’ve never seen before. I believe it’s some kind of clay that was/is used locally for masonry. The creek was running pretty well and it looked absolutely stunning in the beautiful sunshine ☀️ There’s a couple little waterfalls here and there. It was a crisp 39 to 45° and sunny (mostly) so sitting on a big rock by the creek was quite nice, & not too cold at all. I’m a bit of a rockhound so we were looking at a couple cool of rocks that we found. I packed a few granola bars and of course whatever garbage we took in, we put our backpack, and tossed up top of the hill, in the provided garage cans. . The park was very clean, which was nice to see. We got our boots a little bit muddy (but not too badly) and there were still some snow on the ground so it was easy to get the mud off our hiking boots, w/the snow. We ran into a few rowdy teenagers that seemed like they may have been drinking a few beers. We also ran into their empty beer bottles down by the big rock slabs in a semi circle /music area.. I did pick up the beer bottle opener which I’m sure surprised the boys, when they went down to open new beers, and had no opener anymore. Maybe that will make them think to pick up their garbage next time. ( hey I considered it a teachable moment without having to say a word ) The trails are nicely maintained and somewhat marked. There were a few rough spots, but nothing too treacherous and hiking was fun without being too difficult, at all. it’s a beautiful park that I will definitely be hiking a lot more of in the future. (by the way the restrooms are not open till April.)"

"I went to fly fish the creek and had a blast. The creek itself is fantastic with several deep pools. The scenery was gorgeous and the fish were eager to cooperate. I encountered bluegill, longear sunfish, green sunfish, smallmouth bass, and largemouth bass. Nothing huge but still quite enjoyable. There's even a bathroom, playground, and picnic area by the parking lot. The hike to get down to the creek is quite steep, gravel, and eroded."