Exploring Clover Hill

 October 21, 2026
Clover Hill Park
5.16 miles
1h43m

This year, Hannah and I found ourselves on a mission to enjoy as many after work rides as possible before we ran out of daylight. I'd say we did a pretty good job.

She and I have a similar sense of... impatience?... wanderlust? I don't know what to call it, but we get bored of doing the same thing or visiting the same places pretty quickly. 

Don't get me wrong. I am very grateful to have so many great trail riding options in the area! Especially in such a populous state, this feels like a blessing.

But how many times can we ride Horseshoe Bend, Deer Path Park, Round Valley, and Baldpate on repeat?

While we can haul to new places on the weekends, finding new weekday options within a reasonable driving distance is becoming a challenge. Many of the parks within half an hour of the barn close at dusk, don't allow horses, or are heavily hunted. It's a monotonous time of year.

I have spent a lot of time scrolling through Google Maps in search of green patches nearby. In October, we actually had great success using this method. 

The first "new" park we picked was Clover Hill, which is somewhat near my house. Mike and I walked there with the dogs ten years ago. I remembered it being somewhat undeveloped, but also remembered thinking there was a lot of land to explore. 

The park brochure didn't list any actual trails and AllTrails showed a 1.6 mile out-and-back. However, the park is over 100 acres and the brochure specifically listed horseback riding as a permitted activity. 

We decided to give it a try. Worst case, we'd do a mile and a half somewhere new and cross the park off the list. 

"It might be stupid," I warned Hannah.
"That's ok," she shrugged.

Spoiler alert: it wasn't stupid at all!

The main parking lot by the soccer fields looked promising. We trailer pooled to take up as little space as possible. This proved to be a good thing because the soccer fields were apparently the place to be that night! The place was packed. 

Luckily, we found enough space to throw the trailer. I just hoped nobody would park us in! Figuring out how to turn around and exit would be a problem for Future Us.

The mounting process was slightly delayed by countless families coming over to say hi to the horses. As always, we happily let the kids pet the ponies while we answered rapid-fire questions. It's worth having to slow down in exchange for leaving a good taste in the public's mouth. We can't afford to lose the trail access we have!

Once we were on board, we picked up the paved walking path out the back of the parking lot. For a moment, I worried that it really was going to be a boring mile and a half. 

From my memory and the satellite view of the park, there should have been trails along the power lines that would lead to the far side of the open space. In reality, however, the area under the powerlines was overgrown, full of burrs, and swampy underneath. 

Still, the satellite view looked promising enough to keep pushing. We found our way to the road and followed that across the powerlines, where we were delighted to find a nice, clear trail head. 

We hooked right and carefully checked the park boundary on the map. It wasn't long before we hit the remnants of the old farm driveway, which now serves as the main trail through the park. This felt like hitting the jackpot and we noted this would be a good option during mud season.

Aha!

 Soon we had several options to follow. This means there is more trail to be explored in the future! 

That night, we took a detour to a crabapple tree which was dotted with tiny, ripe fruit. Before this ride, I hadn't realized that crabapples aren't one variety of apple. The term simply refers to any apple under a certain size. They come in several types. Some are rather disgusting while others can be quite tasty. The tree we came upon that night fell in the latter category, with apples that were tart, but sweet. The horses enjoyed having some with us!

Hannah identifies the crabapples.

As we meandered around fields and along farm lanes, we were treated to a cotton candy sky. With nothing obstructing the horizon, we had front row seats to the sunset.

Clover Hill is located near the Higginsville Bridge, a little yellow bridge that holds sentimental value for Mike and me. It's also just a cool bridge. When I looked at the map, it looked like the trail head would dump us out on the road right around the corner from the bridge. We decided to check it out.

It turns out the trail head does lead to the spot we wanted, but the way was barred by a massive gate/fence. This seemed like overkill, but I wonder if they've had problems with illegal motorized vehicles. Regardless, Hannah and I were not able to get through on the horses so this trail proved to be a dead end, albeit a pretty one.

An old photo of the bridge for reference.

Along the way, we passed a pasture with an ancient horse turned out in it. The horse was quite excited to see Max and Merlin and came trotting over to visit us. 

We had a lovely canter across the open fields as the sky faded to dusk.

A few turns later, we heard a lot of shouting up ahead. We weren't able to make out the words, but I thought it sounded like someone calling a dog. Right on cue, we heard a few barks. 

Just as we were debating turning around to avoid a possible confrontation, a pair of hunters came around the corner with a pack of beagles in tow. The dogs were adorable and very sweet. One dog in particular trotted over and touched noses with Max. 

The hunters seemed happy to see us and we chatted momentarily before going our separate ways. It was good to know that hunting season doesn't seem to be a problem at Clover Hill, and that I could probably bring Bonnie along for a ride if I wanted to. 

The map indicated a historic graveyard within the park. Of course, Hannah and I wanted to find it. (Then we wonder why things haunt us in our travels...)

Instead, we came upon an ominous-looking abandoned building. There was a driveway up to the main door, but everything else was densely overgrown and impassable. 

Looks inviting, no?

As we peered into the darkness, wondering if we could ride through to the other side, we heard a faint rustling inside the building. Before we could think any more about it, a pair of vultures burst out the door right at face height. Max and Merlin bravely stood their ground while Hannah and I shrieked like little girls.

After that, we decided to abandon our search for the graveyard.

Soon it was fully dark and we rode under a surprisingly bright moon. We had found our way back to the paved driveway and I hoped that would take us back to the powerline trails. 

Before heading out on the rest of the loop, we made a brief detour to the back parking lot. This is where Mike and I parked a decade ago, but I couldn't remember much about the lot. Was it big enough for a horse trailer? Was it full of cracks and potholes? Was the trail accessible from there? It turns out the lot was lovely and completely vacant. This will definitely be where we park for future adventures. 

Eventually we reached the end of the paved driveway. I was very relieved to find that a mowed trail continued from there. It was clearly visible in the moonlight.

This is when we got attacked by another vulture! Ok... so it wasn't really attacking us, but it did swoop out of a tree unexpectedly. Even Max spooked at that one, although he regained his composure pretty quickly. 

I can't say we were big fans of that recurring theme. 

The rest of the ride went uneventfully and the trail connected exactly where I hoped it would. There were plenty of other options that we didn't follow, and I'm excited to have more trail and a possible longer loop for next time. 

We did dismount to hand walk down the road since it's pretty busy and it was completely dark by then. Luckily, there was a very wide shoulder and both boys are totally traffic safe. Still, this was another point in favor of using the other parking lot. No road riding needed from there!

I expected the park to be empty by the time we returned. In fact, we were mildly concerned about being locked in after dark. It turns out we worried in vain! Soccer practice was still in full swing when we arrived and the park is clearly open after dark with huge spotlights over the playing fields. This is another pro on the list. 

Under the cover of darkness, we were able to dismount and untack mostly unnoticed, which gave me a chuckle. Luckily, nobody parked us in and I was able to turn around at the end of the lot to exit (though it was pretty tight). 

Hannah and I headed back to the barn feeling victorious. It was nice to discover a new local place to ride. Even better, it includes options for riding at night, during hunting season, and in mud season. Win, win, win!

Even as we were heading home, we were already making plans for the next day's new park!