Apple Creek Trail – Thrivent Loop

This week I am going to go back to a walk I took with my wife back in June. When the temp was not 0 degrees out. Apple Creek Trail is a path on the north side of Appleton. It stretches from Mead St, near the Hwy 41 overpass, to Edgewood Dr near Holland Rd. The section I want to talk about stretches from Mead St to Ballard Rd and a bit more.

Key Features

• Length: 3.9 miles
• Surface: Paved asphalt
• Uses: Biking, jogging, walking, rollerblading, dog walking
• Wildlife: Opportunities to spot waterfowl such as ducks, geese, and blue herons
• Amenities: Benches, trash receptacles, portable restrooms
• Location: Runs between Edgewood Drive and Meade Street in Appleton
• Parking: Available at various points along the trail
• Notable Features:
  • Winds alongside a reedy stream
  • Skirts the edge of the USA Youth Sports Complex
  • Passes by holding ponds on Holland Road and Ballard Road
  • Offers views of the creek and surrounding wetlands

Review

Most of the pictures today will be from June but I did return for a few shots yesterday. Contrasting a warm June day which was slightly overcast verses a frigid day in January with clear skies. It can be amazing to see the changes in the environment between the two dates.

To start the review, the section of Apple Creek Trail I like to call the Thrivent Trail is what I would like to talk about today. As I said before this section of the trail stretches between Meade St and Ballard Rd. But that is not the extent of the trail, we create a loop by walking from Ballard Rd, west to Meade St. We then walk north along Meade St to the entrance road into the Thrivent Financial complex.

Here there is another path leading back across the Thrivent Financial complex. You walk past the south side of the building. Then along the road between several of the ponds to the entrance of the complex at Ballard Rd. From there you can walk south along the sidewalk to return to where you started.

Back in June my wife and I parked in the Park and Ride parking lot just north of hwy 41 on Ballard Rd. Crossing the roads we see the reason for the name of the path. The Apple Creek Trail runs along Apple Creek, which drains out of ponds between Meade and Ballard. Walking west along Apple Creek Trail we find those ponds.

Song birds flew through the meadow grasses as we walked. The area surrounding the trail here is mostly prairie with few stands of small trees. The creek follows the trail until you get to the ponds. Geese and ducks swam in the ponds as we walk ed and flew over our heads. We saw a blue heron wading in the shallower of the two ponds here. Weeds in the water showed the path of the blue heron as it stalked fish. We even saw a green heron briefly fly by.

About half way between the two roads the prairie gives way to farm fields and a stand of trees. The trail went through the stand of poplar trees as we round a corner in the path right next to Meade St. This part of the path continues north along the east side of Meade St to the road leading into the Thrivent complex.

At this point the path turns into Thrivent, however a sidewalk continues north along Meade Street. The farm fields seen from the path earlier return as you walk east on the path. Here we could see a herd of deer eating what ever the farmers had planted in the fields.

The path continues on the south side of the Thrivent building. The road we followed splits off before the Thrivent building and wraps around the building. On the east side of the building the road and the trail reconnect. Following each other the path and the road split two more ponds. A Peregrine Falcon uses the wind to hover over the grasses looking for prey as we return to the road.

We can see Geese on the lawns to the north side of the road as we follow the curve in the road. Song birds play on the edge of manicured lawns and tall prairie grasses after we pass the ponds. Trees are now lining the edge of the road as we approach Ballard and the main entrance of the Thrivent complex. At Ballard the path becomes a common concrete sidewalk where most of the rest of this trail has been blacktop.

As we return to the intersection near where we parked our vehicle, other cars whip down Ballard toward Hwy 41. These cars and trucks rush by us seemingly unaware of the nature just outside their doors. And I wonder now if any of them would have slowed down to enjoy the beautiful warm day and the nature that surrounds them.

This was not the first time we walked this section of the Apple Creek Trail and it will not be the last. The trails only challenge is length at about three miles long its still a leisurely walk. There is very little elevation change and plenty of Benches for you to rest on.

In the spring I plan to walk the rest of the trail, take more pictures, and then write a further review. We have walked the trail between Ballard and Edgewood before but not on the day that I am talking about today.

Once again please let me know if you have or plan to hike this trail in the comments. And if you have a trail that you would like me to review also let me know in the comments. And thank you again for reading my blog.