Bluffs Nature Area

Distance
2.0 miles to arrive; 1.0-2.0 miles on park trails.

General Attributes
Trees, meadows, hills - Bluffs is unique because it feels as though you've left the metropolis area, yet it's just off Main Street going toward M-14. Not a lot of people go there, despite it being right next to Bandemer Park, which has a popular paved trail. I, personally, love how no one is ever in the area, and the lack of population has its merits: in the summer, watch for a giant, largely untouched raspberry patch! That quietness also makes Bluffs a winter no-go: because it's often untraveled, chances are the snow will stay on the paths longer; the hills don't make an easy, safe grip for your shoes, either. Note: beware (not really; they aren't dangerous so much as surprising and odd) the summer squatters, who come complete with tents and campfires and the occasional abandoned sweatshirt.

Terrestrial Particulars
Watch out for low branches! Seriously, watch out, especially if you go around dusk. In the summer, Bluffs' paths explode with bushes and branches encroaching on the trail (never so much that I've been unable to run, though), and sometimes trees grow low into the path. It's been several times that I've sheepishly remembered, here, that it's important to carry one's ID on a run, especially in an area like Bluffs, which, though right off Main Street, is generally devoid of other people.

Bluffs, Jen Bizzotto

The ground surface of Bluffs makes a welcome change: it's a hard dirt, in most places, which is still easier on the feet than pavement. It'll get muddy in the rain, and you might feel the need to be cautious because of the hills, some of which are excellently steep. Those hills are also pockets for gigantic - and I mean gigantic; some have been over-the-knee - puddles after a continuous rain. (That, of course, can be taken as a warning or a recommendation.)

Navigating
Getting to Bluffs is easy: you want to wind up on Main Street as - I said this before - it goes into M-14. There isn't a sidewalk on the side of the street that the park is on, so you have to wait for the busy stream of cars to subside before you cross. The only official entrance to the park is marked but still difficult to see; it helps to know that it's situated only a few yards before Lake Shore Drive, a road which is only on the sidewalk side of the road and which leads to Bandemer Park. Getting out of the park is easier; though the trails are looping - enough to get a little lost but not in any time-consuming or dangerous way - they'll lead in the general direction back toward Main Street. You can exit out of unmarked paths, but those are a little difficult to locate upon entering, especially if you aren't familiar with the Nature Area's paths.

As a side note, Bluffs, in my opinion, is best paired with other routes: not only is it itself a short loop, but the nearby trails - Bandemer and Argo parks; Bird Hills; Barton, even - don't have to add a lot of mileage. The Bandemer/Argo loop, for instance, will only add an additional mile to a mile and a half; the entrance to that loop is only a few if you decided to continue to Bird Hills or Barton, routes that are already a little longer because they're further from downtown, you'd only be adding a mile or two if you went into Bluffs.