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Jul 10, 2009 — Tatum County Park was one of my local favorite parks when growing up. Any summer camp as a kid had some sort of geocaching adventure in the park. The Monmouth County Park System maintains an excellent park system for locals. Tatum Park later became a great trail running and mountain biking area for me, and generally doesn't have many visitors the deeper you go. Most people like to start at the much larger parking lot at the Holland Activity Center, but I prefer parking on the Red Hill Road side (see trailhead above). The trail system is well-marked and offers quite a web of options, so choose your own adventure. The attached map outlines my favorite loop, which visits pretty forest and meadows, and gets some decent elevation gain relative to this otherwise very flat part of the country.
My favorite loop starts by heading along the Indian Springs Trail until it hits the Meadow Run Trail, which I take heading west, then continue along the Tatum Ramble Trail and finish off on the northern loop section of the Dogwood Hollow Trail. This loop visits the majority the park has to offer, though the other trails are also worth adding on. I recommend the Holly Grove Trail as a short add-on.
Just across the street is Deep Cut Gardens County Park, a well-manicured park for anyone interested in gawking at pretty flowers and plants. A ridiculous range of plants, and therefore wildlife, exist because of the countless hours of volunteers and park sytem employees, and the work really shows. I wish I knew more about the plants themselves, but a little walk through the gardens and greenhouse was enough to enjoy the colors and shapes of nature.
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