How many state and/or county/local parks are within cycling distance where you live? I guess that should read reasonable cycling distance? I've never really sat down and thought about it until today when I was on my way to 2 separate parks within 4 miles of each other. Then it dawned on me just how many freaking parks, mostly surrounded by water that are available to me here. I have about a 12 off the top of my head that I can think of.
I mean I've always known they were here but never really paid that much attention to distance as I was driving at the time. I can honestly say that I find it more enjoyable to load up my trunk rack and head out to the parks now than going in my truck. I visited 2 today, I'm gonna do 2 more tomorrow. Heck maybe 2 a day until I run out of new parks or tires, whatever comes first? :D
I don't know, it weird little things like this that catch my attention about living car-free now. :p Sooooo, how many parks are near you and do you visit them using your bike? Check out this evil looking squirrel I saw today, it looked all cute & all until I got home and uploaded the pics from my camera.
http://home.comcast.net/~tribalsun73/mpp007.jpg
The rest of todays "park" pics from me can be found here (http://home.comcast.net/~tribalsun73/parks.html).
Ashen
06-13-06, 04:12 PM
More than I care to count, but one of the best in Seattle is too CLOSE to bother riding the bike to. It's great.
smurfy
06-13-06, 10:14 PM
I checked out all your pics, is that body of water part of Chesapeake Bay by any chance? Does your parks feed squirrels (I've never seen squirrel feeders before)?
Anyway I live within a mile of five parks all connected together. They are part of the county Five Rivers MetroParks system. And I'm within a few miles of seemingly countless others. However none of them seem to be as large as the one in your pics, at least the one with the grand entrance. Those are a little too far away.
crypticlineage
06-13-06, 10:32 PM
Here in Nashville, there is tons of parks in driving distance, but not that many for biking with my mountain bike. I am however going to take upon myself to find easiest cycling directions to the ones that are within 20 miles. I wish google maps or mapquest will develop alternative directions for cycling.
I-Like-To-Bike
06-14-06, 05:34 AM
(I've never seen squirrel feeders before)?
They are also known as bird feeders, but the squirrels don't mind.
DataJunkie
06-14-06, 08:07 AM
I can't count that high. Colorado cities love parks. I have 3 within 2 minutes walking distance. I can ride roughly 40 miles each way. So..... *shrugs*
shokhead
06-14-06, 08:11 AM
I ride past miles of parks.
jimmuter
06-14-06, 08:15 AM
I have four parks within comfortable walking distance. I would guess dozens within biking distance. Many of them are connected by our greenway system which makes it really convenient.
jeff-o
06-14-06, 08:29 AM
Sure, there are lots of parks around. I don't usually ride through them, since the trails are usually gravel and packed with people. I prefer to stay on the streets, or paved country roads.
pedex
06-14-06, 08:56 AM
all of them, about 30 or so I think.........thats just in the metro area, whole state has hundreds
DavidLee
06-14-06, 10:44 AM
I checked out all your pics, is that body of water part of Chesapeake Bay by any chance? Does your parks feed squirrels (I've never seen squirrel feeders before)?
Anyway I live within a mile of five parks all connected together. They are part of the county Five Rivers MetroParks system. And I'm within a few miles of seemingly countless others. However none of them seem to be as large as the one in your pics, at least the one with the grand entrance. Those are a little too far away.
Mariner is part of the Gunpowder River system and Flying Point is part of the Otter Point/Willoughby river systems, all of which are tributaries of the Chesapeake. Most of our parks have bird feeders in place that squirrels & rabbits etc are more than happy to use. :)
I wasn't able to get to anymore today, perhaps tomorrow I'll pack my fishing gear & head to Harford Glen. :D
nedgoudy
06-14-06, 11:11 AM
I wish google maps or mapquest will develop alternative directions for cycling.
MapQuest has an option
for avoiding freeways
in your getting driving
directions. I use that a
lot when planning new to me
commutes on the bike.
PVyrus
06-14-06, 12:02 PM
What kind of parks? The kind with swingsets and baseball fields, or the ones with trailheads and wildlife? We have plenty of both in the Seattle area, but a lot of them are tiny. I have street maps on my wall with pins in it, and pictures attatched to the pins. It's my goal to visit and mark all the parks on it!
blknwhtfoto
06-14-06, 12:43 PM
Living in Eugene oregon, there parks, but not a lot of really cool ones. Alton Baker is one that I really like, 90% of it is bike/jogging paths. But Portland Oregon has more parkspace than any other city in the country. That is one thing I really miss about Portland, the Largest local park(Forest Park) and the Smallest(a 3ft x 3ft square.)
Lamplight
06-14-06, 04:59 PM
Less than 10 miles? One. And I hesitate to even call it a park. Within 20 miles there are a few more, but none that are worth biking (or for that matter, driving) to.
chicbicyclist
06-14-06, 05:10 PM
Indeed, what kind of parks are you talking about? If you're talknig about the usual, swingset/children's playground/recreational facilites with greens, not many. Probably one or two. But I live in a denser area, and the mother of all parks in whole city Balboa Park (http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgimap.dll?FUNC=MAP&MEM=1&VL=&QV=E6EDAF44A6514D8CA6B1585A927BB6C0l0289FF41153D3B44A9313203O0189FC41153D3B44AB313203O03862C3D933D3B 4498303203&LO=1700+Village+Pl,+San+diego,+ca+92101&search.x=43&search.y=8), is just 2-3 miles away.
Roody
06-14-06, 05:27 PM
Piles of parks here. My favorite is a county park just a mile or two from my house. It's in the heart of the city, but kinda down in a valley so it seems like it's out in the country. I like to noodle around the lake, ride on the mountain bike paths, rent a rowboat for an hour, and top it all off with a quick dip at the beach. The short ride home dries me off. In the winter we ride our bikes on the lake ice. Fun all year!
donnamb
06-14-06, 07:43 PM
Living in inner SE Portland, there are more parks within cycling distance to me than anyone but a Parks & Recreation worker could keep track of.
Mtn Mike
06-15-06, 08:25 AM
The city of spokane is surrounded by parks and national forrests. I live a couple of blocks from the biggest park in the city limits, and can access either good road riding or single track within 1 minute of leaving my door :D With-in an hour drive, there must be thousands of square miles of good parks and places to ride.
rattking
06-15-06, 11:49 AM
The Minneapolis park system is designed so that every home is within six blocks of green space.
that's 6,400-acres within city limits..
I am lucky to live 5 miles from some incredible single track..its pretty much lake to lake all the way there
now if I could only get a MUT up to N.E mpls
staple
06-15-06, 01:35 PM
I couldn't begin to count. I have two small parks within two blocks, and many large parks, including the Mississippi River (lined with one huge park), and the chain of lakes within a couple of miles. Fort Snelling State Park is about 3 miles. Within 5-10 miles are most of the parks in St. Paul, and several in inner-ring suburbs. Further out than that, there's no hope of counting. Parks are everywhere.
noisebeam
06-15-06, 02:47 PM
At least a dozen. Keep in mind this includes parks that are no more than a small patch of grass with a few benches, but it also includes the worlds largest municipal park which is ~7mi from home.
Al
Chris L
06-15-06, 09:41 PM
Define cycling distance. It's not unusual for me to ride over 100 miles in one day (I did it 30 times last year). I have access to several world-heritage listed national parks within that radius.
dreamryche
06-24-06, 06:12 PM
Within 10 miles (most of Buffalo and northern inner-ring suburbs) there are probably at least 40 parks. That includes the little playground-type parks, but there are at least a dozen mid-to-large-size parks within that range. Stretch it to 20 miles and it becomes some ridiculous amount...that encompasses most of the Niagara River from Lake Erie up past the Falls and approaching Lake Ontario, along with the very nice parkland all along the river on the Canadian side.