Cooper Gulch Park

Eureka City Trails

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This is another part with both the developed areas one might find in a park and some large natural areas. I started beside the skate park and ball fields at the only large parking area. The city map I found of trails indicates there should be one along the creek from Myrtle to 14th Street with plans to extend it south to Del Norte Street. I didn't find this bit of trail. I did manage a mildly wild loop around the ball fields and even encountered a fanciful creature.

It's a park, but with thick wild edges. The skate park area was getting heavy use, but nearly no one on the grass and those only briefly.

I headed out between the fields and skate park toward a bridge. When I found a trail on the way, I followed it.

That bridge, there. A bridge over Cooper Creek into wilder areas.

I found a frisbee golf "hole" on the far side. There is a 9 hole course. If you want to try it out, there are often a few frisbees that went astray and weren't retrieved. They aren't as numerous as golf balls around a golf course, but they're there and once you have one, you don't need clubs to finish the gear and play. I didn't play. I followed trail around. I thought I was going for the loop, but I ended up at the end of a neighborhood street. It had a kiosk for the park showing events that have passed by.

The path is gravely so should be usable as the winter wets it more.

The second frisbee golf hole I found. It comes with lots of small extra trails, as seems to be typical.

It certainly is mushroom season and there are some delightful little ones coming up.

I turned back to follow the trail I'd meant to be following to a completely different neighborhood entrance.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of invasive ivy around ready to choke the trees. Some of it has a rather unfamiliar leaf shape, though.

When I popped out at 11th Street, I walked the two blocks to Ross Park to see what it held. More ball park and play equipment, it turns out.

There was this amazing stonecrop (or related) planting along one fence, so not a complete bust.

When I say neighborhood entry, I mean it. This one has trail heading off in two directions.

Found some steps down to a lawn near a long gone home site. I passed more frisbee golf related trails and sometimes no way seemed the main loop.

This is definitely main path beside Cooper Creek.

I found a bridge, but kept to trail on that side of the creek to find it was only a spur to a bench. I crossed and climbed a little along one more spur to a neighborhood entrance.

The grass and the alder can even make the muddy water below the simple bridge pretty.

There might be more trail continuing past the entrance at 13th Street, but it didn't look official to me. The gulch is getting canyon like there, although still with short walls.

The fanciful creature looks on where canyon gets a bit wilder upstream. Okay, it's a Persian cat with a poodle cut and a need of ear scritchels.

I turned back to pass the rest of the ball fields and frisbee golf holes. Those first few holes seemed to be the ones to grab wayward frisbees.

Passing a last few little redwood trees on the way to completing the loop.

At the end, I contemplated going over to the nearby cemetery for a little more walk. The park was a bit less walk than I had expected although I had managed a little over a mile. I found it does not have an entrance on that side, so decided to be done for the time and move on.

©2021 Valerie Norton
Written 6 Jan 2021