Get Lost in Tiffany Springs Park

If you are looking for a place close to just get out and explore, I recommend Tiffany Springs Park.  The park is a gazillion acres with plenty of old roads and ATV paths.  I explored from Childress to Hampton once.  I've never been to the north end of the park where it was quarried before the 1960's.  The quarry area is the area with the large pond at the top of the picture. 

I pulled the 1914 USGS Smithville topo map which showed one of the old roads.  I highlighted the ball fields with blue dots so you have some context.

At one time Old Tiffany Springs Road extended west past Childress and over to Hampton Road.  The crossing is still somewhat visible.  Play around with the aerial views at the park here.

I've wandered from the baseball to the soccer fields and back during one of the kid's practice and came across a spring south of the soccer fields.

I wandered from the soccer fields down some old paths to the east and wound up at the football field.  I wouldn't recommend exploring alone as the park is large and I wouldn't doubt someone living back in the woods or illegally hunting.

I came across an old stone wall which I don't know if it was a foundation or wall.

I'm not sure how the park was acquired but sometime over a decade ago there was a half billion dollar master plan completed for the park that had a golf course and all sorts of stuff and required Hampton Road to be moved as a dam for a lake.

There was some effort by mountain biking and ATV groups to create their respective facilities but nothing happened.  The park really is a natural resource treasure and has awesome views.  It would be nice to make it more open and inviting without having to spend a bunch of money.

Brush Creek along the baseball fields has cut into a limestone shelf and is amazing to see.  We pulled up for soccer practice and I told the other kids we would walk to the playground which is way far away from the ball fields.  They didn't realize that I meant we would take the long and scenic way.

I uploaded some pictures of the walk to my panoramio.com site for your enjoyment but here's a preview.

It's a great place to get out and explore and I bet on a nice day you won't be the only one.