Food Plot Trail example of Bays Mountain magic trick

As part of my goal of tackling every trail in the region, I turned my attention back toward Bays Mountain Park last weekend and hiked the Food Plot Trail, situated between the Hemlock and Lakeside Trails.The trail itself is just 0.2 miles. However, since it is situated in the middle of the park's trails system, you'll have to hike a larger route to reach the trailhead for it.For the Food Plot Trail, I started at the Lake Road trailhead near the mountain bike parking lot. To reach this parking lot, just keep driving up to the top after you enter the park, past the Farmstead Museum.After parking, you'll want to start walking back down the hill (briefly), toward the museum. The mountain bike trailhead will be on the right, consisting of a gravel road — which is the Lake Road trail.Following Lake Road for roughly 1.2 to 1.3 miles, you'll get to a sort of fork in the trail, where you can either bear to the right or follow a trail off to the left. You'll want to use this leftward trail, which is the Hemlock Trail. You'll follow this path for a moment until you reach the Food Plot Trail trailhead on the right.The Food Plot Trail comes out to the Lakeside Trail. You can go right and follow the trail to the dam, which is what I did. You can also go left on the Lakeside Trail and follow it back toward the main area of the park or you can utilize the Hemlock Trail, which turns the hike into an out-and-back trip since you'll be backtracking once it connects with Lake Road. I preferred to make my way to the dam.Most people, including myself, access the Lakeside Trail by crossing the dam to reach the trailhead there. Walking the Lakeside Trail in reverse is always interesting. I am so used to navigating the Lakeside Trail clockwise, and it's almost like a new experience each time I hike it counterclockwise. It is undoubtedly the park's most popular trail, so you'll definitely come across some other hikers.In total, my hike was about 2.9 miles.So, what are my thoughts on the trail?My goal of hiking every trail I can in the Tri-Cities means I have hiked some pretty small connector trails. Bays Mountain Park is filled with such trails, and the Food Plot Trail is arguably one such trail.I usually find these connector trails mundane, because they merely exist to, well, connect trails. But the connectors at Bays Mountain Park always feel different, and I'm not entirely sure as to why. No matter how short they tend to be, they almost deserve their own visits.The Orchid Trail and the Pine Trail are nice examples (although it can be argued that the Orchid Trail isn't really a connector trail).I must admit that the Food Plot Trail stood out to me because it felt a bit underused. There was some noticeable overgrowth on the trail; this was not an impediment, as the overgrowth was not that heavy, but it felt like an area that most people didn't visit. For me, this is reason enough to visit the Food Plot Trail.There used to be food grains growing in this area of the park, hence the name Food Plot Trail.The route isn't too strenuous. In fact, the app I used to navigate my entire hike marked my elevation gain as 223 feet. It took me about an hour to complete. The most "difficult" parts of the trail would have to be Lake Road and some uphill portions of the Lakeside Trail. The Food Plot Trail proper was not a challenging hike whatsoever.In closing, I want to say that Bays Mountain Park always stands out as an interesting juxtaposition. Out of all the parks I've been to in the area, it is the only one where you can be in a crowded area of the park but still find nice little pockets of solitude like the Food Plot Trail. These small sections are like entering your own private stretch of forest despite being within shouting distance of other people.It's something that Bays Mountain Park seems to provide time and time again. It's like magic.