THE EASTERNMOST PARK IN THE SUMMERLIN TRAIL SYSTEM
Bill Briare Family Park is a ten acre park that sits in the shadow of the Summerlin Parkway/U.S. 95/Rainbow Boulevard spaghetti bowl off Tenaya Way. The park itself is the antithesis of the traffic on the spaghetti bowl. It is an open carpet of desert and green turf reaching from Tenaya Way to U.S. 95. Encircling the open carpet of desert and green turf is a 0.54 mile paved loop that brings the easternmost current end of the Bonanza Trail to the U.S. 95 fence. The 0.54 mile paved trail is a road to good health. It is a place to run in solitude and to workout in the fitness stations alongside the paved trail. It is also a park with state-of-the-art playgrounds for children. When I went there on Sunday, I had this place pretty much to myself.
The one drawback is that the park could use more landscaping. Especially alongside the U.S. 95 and Summerlin Parkway fences. Being that this is the desert and it could be brutally hot in the summer, more trees are needed to create shaded areas. On a positive note graffiti is relatively nonexistent.
Bill Briare Family Park is more than a City of Las Vegas park. It is one gem in the necklace that is the paved trail system in the Summerlin area. It is the easternmost point of both the current Bonanza Trail and Summerlin area trail system. It is where U.S. 95 creates a great wall to the trail system. When you think of where you could hike, jog, run, or walk from Bill Briare Family Park the recreation is limitless. This past Sunday it was the easternmost point of a hike/jog from Bruce Trent Park (Rampart at Vegas Drives) following the Angel Park Trail and Bonanza Trails. This was 6.22 miles round-trip of working out and recreation without crossing one street. This is also the easternmost point of a workout using Bonanza Trail and Angel Park Trail to the Sun Coast. Other workouts could include combining it with Kellogg and Zaher Sports Complex. There are so many other workouts that Bill Briare Family Park makes a good hub for. And for this alone it needs a shout out on Yelp.
I believe that health is happiness. And I believe I could be returning to Bill Briare Family Park to gain some happiness by keeping healthy.