WL Jenkins Park Wish List

WL Jenkins Park - The Bark Park - Skate Park - JC Holloway Park

One of my favorite things to do is walk with my bride and doggies in WL Jenkins Park and the Bark Park.  It's a wonderful place and is used heavily by people exercising, walking their dogs, and running.  I sent this request list to the Parks Superintendent, Scott Johnson this morning:

1.  Probably 5 times a week, my wife and I walk on the trails in Jenkins Park.  Often we carry trash a long ways before we can deposit it in one of the trash cans.  Would the city consider placing a few cans on the trail in the interior of the park along the trail connecting the two parks (JC Hollaway Park)?  I think more people would help keep the park clean if there are more cans.

A speckled King Snake crawls across the trail.  It is harmless.

2. One of the pine trees inside the small dog park needs back-fill around the roots, or the tree will probably die.  There may be others, especially since so many new trees have been planted.


3.  There are large number of cigarette butts, and small debris on the trail behind the skate park, making it look trashy.

Here are the fast results!

4.  The old water fountain stub-out by the bathroom is a tripping/knee gouge hazard.

The stub-out which needs attention.

David Lee at WL Jenkins Park

While we were there, we ran into a friend, the honorable David Lee!  David ran unsuccessfully for City Councilman, but he would be a good one.  We had a real good visit talking about the city and the future expansion of Baker Road and the effect it would have on Crockett Park.
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Bark Park Plans For Trail Upgrades

Letter to the Parks Department 10-27-10:  I notice there are numerous piles of material for raising the level of the trail, just outside of the park.  Can you give us a time-line for pouring the material before the rains begin again please?  Thank you.  All of our parks show your dedication to Baytown and I am in many of them each week geocaching or walking with my wife and dogs.

Response:  We are currently making a round mowing the parks, by doing this it will give us a little break with the winter months mowing. Once we are complete with this round of mowing it will free up our operators to be able to do the work out at Jenkins with the dog park. The dog park work is scheduled for next week as long as everything goes to plan with the mowing. Thank you for being a regular visitor to our parks and let us know if you see any other issues that might arise in the future.

Letter to City Manager Garry Brumback

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Hello, Mr. Brumback! I'm trying to find the plan for the development of a trail system in and around Baytown, but can't seem to find it. While geocaching (and you may have heard me comment in my videos) I am continually impressed with the large scale development of trails along Fairmont Parkway, Red Bluff Road, and now along McCabe Road in La Porte.

McCabe Road and Fairmont Parkway trails are cement and very wide and this has to have cost a fortune, but where and how are they getting funding? I think it is imperitive if Baytown is to attract higher income families, we push the trail system forward asap.

Baytown native, Larry Houston and I have now successfully placed a large number of geocaches (23) along Goose Creek trail to attract out-of-towners and hopefully they will stop in for a bite to eat while here and as a side benefit, use our trail making it inherently safer. It took the Jenkins Park (Cary Bayou Trail) a long time before it felt safe, but now there are a lot of people using it. Incidentally, there are also 12 geocaches hidden in Jenkins Park/JC Holloway.

Rumors are Lee College wants to become a 4 year college and this further pushes the need for an extensive bike/hike trail system, especially along Goose Creek and its tributaries. Our city's streets and lack of shoulders are literally dangerous to bicyclists and desperately needs better biking trails of distance.

Next is the Jenkins Park trail expansion and the continued development of the Bark Park. The trail expansion should be carefully planned so a 5K distance is achieved, instead of an arbitrary plus or minus that amount. This will allow runners to know their exact distance, making it a perfect place to train for 10k races, etc. The sooner the overall plan is developed, the sooner trees can be planted.

What is the plan concerning the 3 bridges across Cary Bayou? I believe I heard Scott Johnson say they would be replaced.

Concerning the Bark Park: The city should light this park. Next, a flea and tick spray schedule should be placed outside the park and updated monthly.

Baytown Bark Park watch - updater

Hiya -- I ran across your GeoCache blog when searching for some GPS info. That led me to your Blog where I came across your notes about the Baytown Bark Park. Which led me to stopping for a few minutes while at work to write this note--

Quick thanks for taking time to fiddle wihth our City officials about the Bark Park. We get out there several times a week with our Boxer pup, Jaxon when weather and water levels permit.

Ron & Robin
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I am not finished yet with this park and others. Although Scott Johnson does a great job overseeing the parks, our city has a sad history of not keeping improvements up to the initial standards. Plus, each season brings new challenges and commitments for the city and those things take up resources.  I understand all of this and am patient.

I want to see for myself the spray schedule for fleas and I want it posted outside the park at least quarterly.  I also want the trails raised so they do not flood and some sort of irrigation system to make sure the trees grow.

I am hoping and praying lighting will be installed inside the dog park.  Wouldn't that be awesome?


I would appreciate it if you and yours send me email when you see anything of interest.