Bancroft Park (North Trailhead)
Bancroft Park (North Trailhead) is a welcoming and accessible park with wheelchair-friendly entrance and parking. It features three paved hiking loops shaded by mature trees, dirt trails, a playground, picnic tables, and public restrooms. The park is dog-friendly and great for kids with kid-friendly hikes. Parking is available though limited at the north entrance, with larger parking areas at the south entrance. Amenities include grills, picnic tables, and a water fountain near the south entrance. The park has multiple official entrances and provides a scenic and friendly environment for visitors and their pets.
Reviews
The south entrance has space for 15 vehicles, it has a map of the paved paths, there is a play group up the path a ways, there are four official entrances to the park. One each on Otto St (Main parking lot), Oak St, North St, David st (North Trail head), there is also an unofficial entrance on Whyte st.
There are grills and picnic tables near the south entrance. Also, a water fountain.
Despite the recent findings of certain DISGUSTING drawings (and words), found throughout the Park, I still gave it 5 Stars, as it is a personal local favorite from my youth.
I will say I love how they fixed the parking lot, but highly dislike how you can no longer drive to the playground anymore, so it was a long trip up and down for my disabled & elderly Mom. However, I do understand why it had to be done. People used to drive through there like crazy.
I must warn people not to whistle in the park tho, ’cause according to the lil’ chalk notes throughout the paths, it says, “whistle to get your d*** s***ed”.
If you exclude the crudeness of the person who wrote such things, the park itself is beautiful.
Lovely little walk with my dog and I! We saw dear. We had to end a walk early because my dog heard some loud bangs in the distance. Not sure if that means there’s some plant nearby that’s doing work. But my dog gets spooked by those type of sounds. So I haven’t seen the whole park just yet. If I’m nearby, I’ll try to walk through there again.
Bancroft Park is a hidden gem. It has three paved loops (hiking trails) with dirt trails branching off. Most of the trails are shaded by tall mature trees – a gorgeous setting. There’s also a playground within the first loop.Not too busy but feels friendly.
The entrance has a parking spot for 3 to 4 vehicles. It does not have a map legend. Though the trail is very short a legend that shows where the trails go and how they connect to roads/the neighborhood would be nice. The woods have also been trampled through it looked like. It has a playground and at least two pond overlooks which are nice but it is just average when compared to other better managed parks.