There is a possibility we'll be hosting some trailwork days on the section of Trail 25 close to the McLellan Overlook trailhead this spring, and somehow I had never before been to this trailhead so I wanted to check it out!
It also looks as though the Deep Creek TH that I normally use provides good access to this area of the park, but I wanted to see something new-to-me so started at McLelland Overlook instead.
This trailhead additionally provides excellent access to Centennial Trail. There's a nice overlook bench and a CXT toilet, with room for several vehicles. I hiked a counter-clockwise loop that encompassed the Osprey Loop Trail near the river, followed by a short section of both Centennial Trail and Trail 400, then completing the loop by taking a portion of Trail 25 southbound.
There were a few icy/snowy patches and the ground was entirely frozen on my visit, but I never thought it was icy enough that I needed to put on my microspikes. When I was close to the river, I could see that the area closest to shore was fairly well frozen, but farther out there was open water and a lot of waterfowl. This could be a great trail for birding!
This entire area saw a forest health/thinning project in the spring of 2025, and the trails were closed for part of last year. Once I made it to Trail 400 and Trail 25 I could see that the machinery had torn up the trail tread a bit, and this is the area we will likely be doing some maintenance work on in the spring. It's not terrible, but also a bit on the rough side. Still, this was overall a fairly easy hike at 2.8 miles and only 217' elevation gain.
Comments