Meeman-Shelby State Park

I've lived in Memphis since 2001 for a total of 5 years (I spent 5 years in Japan) and I have never until yesterday visited this nice state park. It's located roughly 17 miles north of Memphis but seems much further.

Since I am planning to climb Kilimanjaro in the summer of 2016 I need to get in shape as such I've decided to start regular hiking. Unfortunately there is little in the way of hiking in the Memphis area, except for Meeman-Shelby Park. It has 5 trails, only three of which are for hiking though. I chose the Woodland Trail as it is the shortest at 3 miles.

For most of the initial hike you are on top of a ridge overlooking a heavily wooded valley. The trail is mostly flat, but you go up and down a few steep hills. It's nothing too rigorous however. It's a pleasant and relatively easy hike. It took my buddy and I less than two hours to complete it (the map claims it takes 3 hours to hike the path). We even stopped for lunch.

The only bad thing about the trail was that it is poorly kept. We found at least 4 trees that had fallen onto the trail. One tree demolished a bridge. We had to climb the ruined bridge and over the tree to continue or take a bit of a dip. It's truly sad to see such a nice park with tons of potential fall into disrepair.

Overall the park is pretty nice. It makes for an easy and quick getaway from the hustle and bustle of Memphis. I look forward to hitting the Woodland Trail again and to exploring some of the other trails that the park has to offer.