One of my favorite things are parks. Dating back to when I was a child the biggest treat in the world was to go to the park with my father after which we’d head over to pick up ice cream.

I don’t get the ice cream anymore after the park, but I still enjoy going to them immensely. All my long runs during the spring, summer and fall are done at the park. I look for animals and birds, listen to the sounds of all the wildlife, pray for breezes and always find peace there.  Now that Peachtree is over, I am looking for some other parks to run in just to shake it up and decided to head over to Bethesda Park in Lawrenceville, GA. 

I drove around the place first and it is huge. There are softball/baseball, soccer, and football fields, basketball courts, an aquatic center and senior center as well as play areas and pavillions.  I was most interested of course in the walking trail.  There are two a short trail around a man-made lake and a longer 1.5 mile trail. I took a leisurely stroll on the longer trail and it’s fantastic.  I’d say it’s over 80% shaded and fairly flat.  The only hills and they are short are near the end of the 1.5 if you start the trail going to your left.

The short trail is mostly unshaded.  People fish, feed the ducks and geese and basically chill out in this area. All the pics in the post are from the short trail.

Overall for purposes of running/walking/biking, Bethesda has a great trail, with welcome shade from this GA heat in the summer and is a welcome respite from some of the hillier fair in the area.