Hartwood Acres is part of the Allegheny County Parks system and is a terrific place to visit anytime of the year. Every year they do the Holiday Lights Festival and one of these years I'm going to go back and see it.
But my girlfriends and I weren't there for any lights festival. Like all county parks, Hartwood has a great trail system and we were out there for some good winter hiking. Hartwood has an extensive trail system, nearly all of it in loops, in two sectors of the park. We began by meeting up in the parking lot off of Saxonburg Boulevard, then hitting the Purple Trail. In fact our hike was in a series of loops.
We then looped around the Red Trail to the Yellow Trail near the stage area where they hold summer concerts (and where my cousin and I saw Yo La Tengo this year). We then did a complete circuit of the Blue Trail, a portion of the White Trail before finishing with a complete loop of the Orange Trail. Then we headed back to the parking area.
All in all I'd say we did about 5 1/2 miles of hiking that morning. We were going to take a look at the mansion, but by that time we were ready to go get some lunch. I'm not much of a winter person but still there's something about a cold weather hike that gets my blood going. Hartwood doesn't have the extensive trail system that, say, Frick Park has but it's still a worthwhile place to explore.