<center> ![SW Lake Baldwin Loop.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/EpviSVwy511PLAUVy45tyAikYJCqz4kyy1W2GWYhkzWFrUFSssn6YhHkBw6RaTULzmH.jpg) </center>  

Lake Baldwin has a nice 2.5-mile loop along with a dog and a regular park. I ended up going there during quite a nice and cool day. Despite it being cloudy it was quite a bright day.  

 

Getting into the parking lot was a bit interesting. They call it a “driveway” and you almost swear it looks like a path you expect to see people walking along. Thankfully after missing the entrance the first time around, there was a traffic circle not that far away that made it easy to make another attempt.  

 

This place was quite packed since around the lake there are quite a few different complexes and homes. They all seemed to be taking advantage of when they could to allow people to get into the loop themselves.  

 

<center> ![dog park.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23uFPkbrG44NGpBUnhh4dUfsTgnwc4u7CKPZLpC1kdcRhCPHnAy3tfhKhZqq9c929HkA4.jpg) </center>  

Many in the area were using the loop to walk their dogs to the dog park. If I was a dog, I think I'd find this place quite fun. Between the small area for the small dogs to the larger part fenced area for all dogs. They could even some dogs run into the lake and have fun down there while their owners chased after them saying “nooooooo.” 

 

Since this was a loop the hardest part was trying to decide in which direction you wanted to go around the lake. After viewing the traffic patterns for a bit, it seemed like there were slightly fewer people going counterclockwise. 

 

Going counterclockwise ended up making each trip I recorded 2.8 miles instead of 2.5 miles per loop. As you are on the outer side of the paved path when you go around. I did not mind the slightly longer distance. If anything, I more than welcomed it.  

 

<center> ![the start of the trail.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23y8iuzTwREpmd7crAnDRTRHXwbcZY5E8XHZJZTHDwCdU3NuoYfyf2Uwx7n7CaXVNqwi1.jpg) </center>  

 

While trying to consider places I might go to again sometime in the future. I rather liked that this is a loop. Even more so if you come with a few people and not everyone is up for another loop they could always go sit in the dog park and just watch people's dogs as something to do. It seemed there were a couple of people doing that.  

 

This loop itself does have a lot of people in it. This included many people on bikes. At least on this trail, it seemed people on bikes pass right down the middle. While this is not the widest trail path I've been on. At least they were not trying to cut off too tight around you. Some people on bikes did make some risky moves such as going between two sets of traffic coming from either direction as not wanting to wait for people to move further apart as they were passing each other.  

 

<center> ![walking along the trail.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23xVFDosDtYh3Q7Cw9cWzeNtfHoMxytZvcVLSEmA25WFbHox62uB7kfC8crXMqyaYUXhg.jpg) </center> 

Large parts of the loop are running next to the road. I’m not the biggest fan of these kinds of things. At least when they could they put a decent amount of distance between you and the road. Unlike other paths I've been on where you are next to the road that only happened in a couple of spots.  

 

I did hear a car pick up a rock at one point. Thankfully there were no issues. Some parts of this trail are even below the street grade in certain areas. So, stuff like that tends to not be a concern for anyone walking, hiking, running, or biking.  

 

<center> ![some lake view.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/243BaLBjTjc4dQDiPHSoBCb7k7i5titQ15eYMBMwL8j4YAwwvngvMr3QrtzLDHhtoagSd.jpg) </center>  

While I have been on some lake loops in the past. I prefer how this one is set up. Sometimes you get an amazing look at the lake. Other times you get none. Then there are many of these amazing in-between sights of the lake and trees that mostly block the view. It keeps the view rather interesting.  

 

 I ended up going decently early in the morning. I can only imagine this place is busy most of the time. Even more so since it opens up as early as 6 AM and to my shock they don’t close down till 11 PM. I have a feeling some parts would be far too dark at that late at night. 

 

<center> ![would be fun to live here.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/2432Bk8Em7RYgP42tuRx2LYqTLVD8rw3ag9JABzD4dtDjbEAvBqx6iSCAEvjjxRb4mkRS.jpg) </center>  

This area can get a bit pricy. I think it is fun if you enjoy the outdoors but don’t want the full-on dirt path trails kind of outdoors. This was not the only section where they had a direct path from where people were living to get them onto the trail.  

 

  

At least on the AllTrails app, people have this loop listed as being a spot to check out flowers. I don’t know if it’s just the time of year I went. I would say if you came here for flowers, you would be quite disappointed. A lot of the scrubs and stuff was more akin to a swamp than some kind of garden. There are much better trails at least during this time of year for sightseeing flowers than this one.  

 

<center> ![view of the lake.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/243qChcbR7xccQ6hJqsghUKXzRcWDKmiqy3ZaHFRuCfA4GzjTv7BEW4kDSPcn3wR69yht.jpg) </center>  

There is a nice section of the loop that fully opens to the water like this. It even has two docks you can walk out onto. I did notice some people attempting to fish off these docks. They did not seem to catch anything. There was also not a single sign that I noticed about fishing here.  

 

I noticed someone was even out on the water in what looked to be a kayak. I did not see any signs of boat ramps. I can only assume someone carried this down from their apartment or house right onto the lake itself and went for it.  

 

 

At least there were no loud boats out on the water. While there were quite a lot of people making all kinds of sounds. I did have moments of tranquility.  There were a lot fewer animals here than I was expecting. Like everywhere you see tons of squirrels. That just seems to be the norm for any trail I've been on in these parts.  

 

<center> ![lots of benches.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23zbHbSAW7f1HEPDs14H5M65TpU5WYasAHDST7ESXc1uAeXAnkrqnTtztiqNKbj69YAgY.jpg) </center>  

 

While I did not sit for the entire time I was active here. There were a lot of benches for people to rest. I even noticed a few people come down here to read in nature.  

 

As you can tell by now there are a lot of on and off trails leading to this loop. It was somewhat kind of funny to see people take a good ten or twenty steps and realize they were no longer on the loop before returning.  

 

<center> ![meemorial.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23zbHJTJ3qeetxqLz4FJKGUfTeAxy6cj5taE7GHNrrud2qZeseihAvWF4xxM4iFiobj3B.jpg) </center>  

You could also not adopt the mindset that the route closest to the water was the correct one either. At once I was on the other side almost nearing the end back to where I started. There is a trail that leads down to a memorial site.  

 

While it looked like on the map that trail also connected back up to the loop as a shortcut if you were looking to cut out the parking lot area. I could see people getting somewhat lost on a couple of turns without even thinking about it.  

 

The nice thing about the loop is there are no crosswalks to go around it. So, if you do end up hitting a stop sign or crossing you know you went the wrong way.  

<center> ![retention pond with a bird.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23s9TBWUWNfqtZSNC9b4pqhPmnRMfBHmEu5PM8Fh2cm9PyUbtWfAq5qgHGTWrJZ2jQ11C.jpg) </center>  

For some reason, there was this tiny little rocked-up retention pond almost like a dam. One of the only two birds I saw that day was chilling in this pool of water. There were other retention ponds around this lake as well. None of them is this amazing.  

 

You would think with this massive lake they would have set up the area to drain down into it. That is something you have to be mindful of in homes down here. It is also why I'm not shocked when certain areas flood out like they do.  

 

Looking at the wider area on the map you would think this place was covered in lakes or something. Nope. Most of them are just retention ponds. Sometimes they might even attempt to name one of them a lake! A lake during the dry season you could almost walk across in ankle-deep water no less. At least Lake Baldwin did not look like one of those.  

 

<center> ![homes.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23vPAeJfAbqRn6UgYXi8fCTefi37RwNrg8cu6NPRVudXxcyyh9JD3LYhUHKHCV2RHFrvE.jpg) </center>  

It was rather fun to at least look at all the homes and other complexes that ran around the trail as well. Some of them were already fully decked out for the holidays. You can also see yet more drainage for water in this area.  

<center> ![shade.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23xVCnV6SuG5LeoKRMnxgjabwviNc4SCTMj7FB5sx9omy3nmuT2iZ6rs54jegY18zaWSC.jpg) </center> 

 

 

If shade is something you enjoy on a trail many parts you are only going to get a little. This was quite close to the end of the loop where you would end up hitting the most shaded part of it. Many seemed to be taking a break just around the bend here. There was even a bit of a traffic jam of people.  

 

While most of the paved trail was decent. You still do need to keep an eye out for roots that pushed up the pavement along with there being some cracks and longer-term wear in spots. Certain parts of the loop seem to be quite older than other parts. It’s also clear while people are asked to not use monetarized vehicles on the path some have been. 

 

# Final Thoughts 

<center> ![the trail.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/enjar/23wWw3DmC6kxh1teUF5WekH8sLzpgMnCmLzk6UQqXBu2go4mJum4tRZmRhg4n9MFJzbyw.jpg) </center>  

 

<center> Screenshot from AllTrails </center>  

Usually, I prefer less busy areas. This place was busy enough that people just had the common sense to be respectful of others. It also was not a shock when you came across another person, or someone would be passing by you. You kind of just expected to run into someone else every so often.  

 

Once I got to the end of it once. I took a short break watching some dogs before going on a second loop around. I was quite tempted to go on a third, but I did not have much more time I could spend here so I had to call it there.  

 

Overall, I liked this trail. I do love loops in general. I’m kind of shocked this place is not on a lot more lists. That is however for the best as it already is quite busy since It's quite an amazing place for people around the area to come.  

# Information   

Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.    

   
    
   

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