While it is not a midway point for the West Orange Trail itself. It just so happens I have a midway point between going from two different points that meet up at the same location. With it being a point-to-point trail and not having someone picking me up at the other side if I went all the way though there ends up being a turning around point.
I had yet to make it out to Chapin Station and this place had a lot of amenities. The place has, among other things, the office for the entire tail where I was able to pick up a physical map of the entire thing. Since I have plans to hit most of the entire trail at some point having an actual map, I can just toss into my backpack is rather nice. Just in case my phone’s battery dies or I can’t get an internet connection.
They also have, and I found this rather interesting a tennis and basketball courts just a couple steps down the trail. There is even a bridge leading over to the tennis court. The basketball court was tucked into and a bit ahead of the bridge back to the clearing on the left in the photo.
However, before I could even get out of this place there was a bit of walking to be done. They have a Path of Life Garden. A lot of the pathway along the trail is filled with both human and what seem to be animal names, mostly cats and dogs. I thought this was quite a cool concept and a way to show respect. This area was quite well maintained.
As always, the trail did lead you along the road for a little bit of ways. This one, however, then went and left the road behind. While you could tell it was following the highway by some bridges you would end up coming up to. For the most part, it was hard to tell you where that close to a major road.
There was quite a lot of shade on this path. While I did not need the shade at the hour of the day, I ended up hitting this path. If I had gone in midafternoon, it would have been quite nice. Even more so when every so often a slight breeze went through the trail.
While there are a couple of crosswalks you end up going through. They were side roads most of the time not even having a flashing light you can press a button to enable before crossing. Only one of them even had any traffic.
It is of no shock to me that despite the real lack of seeing many people on bikes on this part of the trail. You could not get to a crosswalk without seeing a biker not only fly past you but fail to stop before doing so. It is no wonder these kinds of people get hit by cars all the time. I’m shocked that someone from the police department doesn’t camp at these stops and just writes lots of tickets all day long to people on bikes.
What is even more crazy is they do permit up to a certain kind and speed of e-bikes on these trails. So, you would think if it was anyone that should be obeying stop signs and not causing issues it would be people who I often see are barely even peddling their bikes to go zipping past on these trails.
A large part of this trail you could tell was cutting behind people's backyards and even some schools. I have often thought when I notice such things that it would be rather nice to have a house almost this close to a trail. It’s a shame I'm so far away from the West Orange Trail. Otherwise, I could see myself just jumping onto it for a couple of miles almost daily.
One of the things I have not seen on any parts of this trail so far has been any horses. They do have a decent amount of marking for them along the trail. I have a feeling some people on bikes would have a very rude awakening if a horse showed up. Both people walking and those on a bike are supposed to yield to anyone riding horseback on the trail.
It also seems at one point there used to be a few people who rode a horse on these trails. You will see the signs pointing them away from what looks like trails created by people going off the path. I have even in the past noticed a sign pointing the horses down a different route onto the dirt.
The most interesting find of this entire part of the trail has to be the farm animals that belong to a school that the trail runs behind. There were at least when I was out there a couple of goats! It wanted my attention as well.
I ended up finding a couple of amazing spots to take a rest as well. This trail was kind of odd in the fact that when I was going one way it seemed like I was always going slightly up in elevation. Funny enough when we turned around it again seemed like a lot of the trail was slanting slightly up. I guess it is possible to walk uphill both ways indeed!
I do recall I was rather looking forward to going slightly down what seemed to be like a never-ending hill upward. While certain parts were a bit steeper itself. It does feel like looking back at the photos now perhaps my mind was playing a bit of a trick on me after all.
Like all fun adventures, there comes to a point where it’s the end of the line. Rather in my case the point I've referred internally to myself as midway point! This is a bridge that when I'm coming in the other direction from a different outpost along this trail I tend to stop at and turn around.
Just to double check this was the midway point I walked a bit past the bridge that was coming up. There are some other landmarks I took note of, and it did not take long to find them to confirm I had done so.
I have for a while now been wondering what was past this bridge on the side, I took to get to it for this trip. I have even been tempted a couple of times to try and make the full trip to the other outpost. That, however, puts me at about double the distance I'd prefer to be going once I have to turn around.
Perhaps at some point, I'll come back here and make such a push. I am, however, attempting to keep these hikes and walks to under three hours. I have quite a long-term schedule of where I'm supposed to be over the next three years. I’m still in the phase where I'm not even supposed to be at an hour yet let alone three or more.
It was then time to turn around. For whatever reason the trip back the way I went always seems to go by so fast. I even noticed I rarely take any photos of it as well. I’m always just a little sad it’s over each time i reach the end. I have been enjoying getting back into nature quite a lot.
Final Thoughts
It was great to finally see what was beyond the midway point that I usually turn around on at the bridge. This side also seemed to have a lot fewer people on bikes, which I rather enjoyed. I might have to check out this site a few more times if I'm ever in this area again. I rather liked it and the nature views I got to enjoy.
Information
Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.