View source

'''Bristol Woods County Park - Kenosha, Wisconsin'''
[[Image:Photo_WI_Kenosha_Bristol Woods 01.jpg|right|Bristol Woods County Park Trails]][[Image:Photo_WI_Kenosha_Bristol Woods 02.jpg|right|Bristol Woods County Park Trails]]
Bristol Woods Park is part of the Kenosha County Park System. The Park has over four miles of wooded trails suitable for hiking, trail running, and cross country skiing. The trail surface may be wood chips, grass, dirt, or crushed stone depending on the section of the trail. Although you can ride a mountain bike on the trails, the trail is usually soft and wet and is therefore not the best surface for biking.

*'''Terrain / Scenery:''' Heavily wooded park with some small hills. Moderately wide woodchip or natural surfaced trails
*'''Fees / Permits:''' None
*'''Trail Conditions and updates:'''. See [[Talk:WI_Kenosha_Bristol_Woods_Trails| Discussion Page]] to view or post trail updates
*'''Trail Markings:''' Color coded with maps at key intersections
*'''Official Web Page:''' See [http://www.pringlenaturecenter.org/ Pringle Nature Center]
*'''Getting There:''' Bristol Woods Park is located West of the city of Kenosha on County Road MB (160th Ave.) just South of County Road C. There is a large sign at the entrance. [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=pringle+nature+center&sll=42.513361,-87.893372&sspn=0.1731,0.31929&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=42.533287,-87.988644&spn=0.043261,0.079823&om=1&iwloc=A  Google Map]


==Hiking Trails==
The trails can be accessed from several locations in the park including behind the playground by the first parking area, behind the [http://www.pringlenaturecenter.org/ Pringle Nature Center] (the small building at the end of the second parking area), or by the small pond. In recent years they have done a nice job of marking the trails. The trails are all color coded and there are maps located at many of the key intersections. The Red Trail is the primary trail and the longest single loop at 1.66 miles. The Green Trail is the second longest loop at 1.18 miles and can easily be combined with the Red Trail to make a longer loop. These trails hold moisture well and can be rather muddy in the spring; the Red Trail has more of a wood chip/mulch surface so it is the better choice when conditions are wet. You can also get some serious mosquito activity here in June and July so be prepared. 

Though there isn't anything you could really call a big hill, there are quite a few smaller hills and the trail winds through the woods in a manner that keeps things interesting (there are very few flat straight sections). 

There are numbered markers along the Red trail that are part of self-guided nature trail (map and index available from [http://www.pringlenaturecenter.org/ Pringle Nature Center website] ).


==Bristol Woods Trail Map==

[[Image:Map WI Kenosha Bristol Woods.png]]


==Cross country skiing:==
These trails are not groomed and are frequented by hikers (and quite a few dogs) throughout the winter, so expect the snow to be trampled. You'll also likely encounter quite a few downed branches on the trail. That being said, this is still a nice local trail system to do some classical skiing. Some of the hills can get a littl tricky in icy conditions since the trails are fairly narrow and there are some turns that are not exactly designed for skiing. Since the entire trail system is in the woods, the trails hold snow well and are often still skiable well after the other area trails have lost their snow. 
You can ski any direction on the trails. My preference for this system is clockwise, but because the trail system is rather small I'll usually ski it multiple times in various directions mixing up loop variations by using some of the alternate trails (white, blue).


==Links==

'''Related Pages:'''
*[[WI Kenosha|More Kenosha Area Trails]]

'''External Links:'''
*[http://www.pringlenaturecenter.org/ Pringle Nature Center]