Lebanon hills is a large park that consists of many trails and lakes.This review is about Jensen Lake Trailhead. Jensen lake is a great place to go if you want to have a lot of spots to explore, or you want to catch animals. Another thing I enjoy about this trail is it has multiple footbridges over shallow water, or even land. I have only gone a few times compared to some other trails, but it is one of my favorite places to hike.

Location

There is one entrance to the Jensen Lake Trailhead, and it is located on Carriage Hills Drive, which you get to by taking Pilot Knob Road. The location is nice because it isn’t hard to find. It is about a 2.1 mile hike, which takes about one hour to go through. If you stop a lot to explore, like I encourage you to, it will take more time.

Environment

On the trail there are a lot of animals, and cool things to see. There is minimum trash on the trail, which is great! The trail is unpaved. There are some roots and mini tree stumps in the middle of the trail, which is especially bad in fall, when there are leaves covering the ground. It is only bad in some spots, and if you watch your step you should be fine. Also, there are a lot of bright flowers and plants on the trail.

Animals

One of the reasons I love this hike is because of the variety and amount of animals you see. You can see small animals like chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and rarely small snakes. The only big animals are deer. In the water you can see fish, crayfish, minnows, and frogs. Bugs include spiders, flys, grasshoppers, dragonflies, ants, and many more. Sometimes you can see turtles on logs, and once I saw a Eastern Tiger Salamander, which I had never seen before. Overall, there are a lot of animals to see on the trail.

What to bring

You want to be prepared for this hike and you might need to bring supplies. That means water, bandages, a trail map,and maybe a snack. Some optional items include a camera, trail guides about animals or plants, a net and a container, a journal, and if you have a dog for sure bring it. My dog loves to sniff around and enjoys the hike. If your dog likes to swim this is a great place for it to do so.

When to go

The absolute best time to go is late spring. That is when the flowers have bloomed, and the animals are the most active. Fall is probably the least ideal time to go because of the ground (as I already mentioned) but it is still not too bad. Winter looks awesome because of the snow on the ground, but you won’t see many amphibians or bugs. This trail is also fun in summer, since it is shaded by the trees. You probably want to go early in the morning, so it is not crowded and the animals are active.

Review

This place is a 4.5 out of 5. That is because the trail is awesome, but it is sort of far away, and I will trip on a stump in the trail every once in a while. I love the footbridges because they are so cool, and helpful, in the muddy spring. The variety of animals in Jensen lake is definitely a factor to my rating.

Hiking challenge

Medium difficulty. If you go on the hike, find this flattened bench and reply what you think happened to it. Hint, look at the surroundings.