Radnor Lake-Winter Weather Parking and Hiking Update
As we come out of this week of winter weather with extreme low temperatures, we wanted to update all of our visitors wanting to come out for a hike. While Radnor Lake’s parking and trails have been open every day during this extreme winter weather event the past six days.
While main roadways are now mostly clear in the Radnor Lake adjoining areas such as Granny White Pike and Franklin Road, the park roads and trails are still covered in snow-ice at time of this post. Park roads are not treated w/salt nor plowed so visitors should plan accordingly for hiking the next 48 hours.
Rangers have been and will be working on clearing as much of the parking areas as time/temperatures have allowed, however due to the shade provided by trees along Otter Creek Road ice will be an issue for the next 48 hours even as temperatures rise.
Both parking areas at Radnor Lake are open, however visitors who do not have 4wd or all-wheel drive vehicles are encouraged to park at the Visitor Center-West Parking Area and not attempt entry from east Otter Creek to the East Parking Area. The hill adjacent to the West Parking Area near the visitor center is still closed to vehicles so there is no parking available at this time other than in the west parking area.
Even after we thaw out the next 48 hours, park visitors hiking the trails should expect for extremely muddy hiking conditions for the next 7-10 days due to all the snow and anticipated rain in the coming week as we thaw out. Please stay on the trail, walking around wet spots on the trails creates additional work for the park ranger staff and damages plant life in addition to being a posted rule/regulation.
Visitors are encouraged to plan on wearing shoes you can get dirty/muddy if hiking the trails in the coming week. Otherwise, visitors can hike on the gravel/paved surfaces free of mud of 2+ miles offered within the natural area for the coming 7-10 days.
Thank you to all of our visitors and neighbors for their patience and understanding as we transition back to normal operating hours this week.
