McQueen Lake Environmental Education Center is a School District site with an overnight center for classes, a day center for shorter visits, and a number of trails for students to use. the public is asked to steer clear of the overnight center area, but hikers may use the trails on the south and east side, preferably on days when students are not on site.   For hikers, weekends and holidays are the best choice.   There are several access points, but the best is at the southwest corner, just before the lake.    Access from the Grasslands Community Trail is also okay.     The trails are marked using a color code system and there are a couple of maps posted on signs.    On this weekend morning. I hiked along the double track to the Day Center, which is currently under construction.     I gave the work area a wide berth and went past into the meadow.    Trails lead down to Griffin Lake and around the lake (orange trail).    Instead of hiking through the Overnight Center, I used the blue trail to connect to the red trail.    I have hiked these trails many times so I knew which way to go at each turn.    I elected to follow a secondary trail along McQueen Lake coming back.     The loop route took 2 hours and covered about 6 km.

The trails were very quiet and I saw no one else on the site.    There were some cattle at the northeast corner so I gave them a wide berth.   There were many birds in the forest and around the lakes and ponds.    I saw or heard song sparrows, marsh wrens, blackbirds, pine siskins, yellow-rumped warblers, and the usual ducks, crows, killdeer, robins, and swallows.   I used the Merlin app for the songs and calls.  Wildflowers were out and the tiger lilies were at their peak.   This is a favorite hike and I plan to return on a weekend day in the fall for a different route.

Shared here are photos from the hike, embedded in a slideshow.    For captions, go to the album – McQueen Lake Trails (link)