Trail-blazing: Shorter doesn’t always mean easier.

Brownie Trail: A short run through
By Clint Wiederholt and Todd Ward

It’s short but it can still pack quite the punch. The Brownie Traill is immediately adjacent to the Girl Scout Trail featured in last month’s magazine. It is the shortest of the six St. Joseph biking/running trails and is basically an extension of Girl Scout. Its 1.25 mile tally does feature some unique terrain with a large man-made rock ramp near the beginning making it a bit of an adventure for mountain bikers. Riders will also find a couple log jumps and an interesting rocky portion that can be mildly challenging but likely more cumbersome than exciting. There is one sharp, blind corner that goes uphill on the northwest corner of the path that is one of the more challenging areas on any of the local trails.

For runners this trail is useful simply because when added to the 3.75 miles from Girl Scout it makes a nice even approximately 5 mile trail run by just jaunting across the sidewalk to a separate portion of trees. It isn’t a fun run though, the rocky portions can easily lead to a turned ankle, tripping or a bruised heel if not careful. Its close proximity to the road portion of the parkway (a mere about 3 feet in one place) isn’t too comforting either. If you’re into a slow hike this is definitely a trail to avoid, there is little to see and the short winding trail is quite frankly boring.

While this is likely the worst of the trails in town it does serve a purpose as mentioned above. It can easily be combined with the superior Girl Scout Trail to add a little flavor and length to your run or ride. Many people will hit these trails directly before or after the Corby trails which will be covered in the coming magazines; stay tuned.