Interpretive kiosk:  An interpretive kiosk is planned but not yet installed. We encourage you to download the prepared trail guide and bring it with you to the preserve.

Trails are open year-round from sunrise to sunset. Note: Parking lots are not winter-maintained. Please stay safe by not hiking during trails during periods of heavy rain, ice, and snow. Also note that trails are closed during the annual deer management hunt which takes place on 1) the Monday through Sunday following Thanksgiving, and 2) the Saturday and Sunday before Christmas.

Resilience’s Two Trails

Trail Difficulty - moderate to easy for a moderately long walk. Resilience is rolling land, but not rocky. Ascents and descents are frequent but short-lasting.
Location: Both trails begin at the preserve’s trailhead, shown on the above map with a “P.” Scroll down for detailed directions.

Grasshopper Ridge Trail - 1.52 Mile Loop Trail -  The Grasshopper Ridge Trail begins in the woodlands and ends in the ridgetop’s meadows in an area that was once the bustling industrial scene of a strip mining operation for coal. The vast open landscape is surprisingly pleasing to the human eye and features many panoramic vistas as well as boasting remarkably high populations of Henslow's and grasshopper sparrows. In the Virginia Pines that rim the meadow, listen for the songs of the pine warblers and yellow-breasted chats. Watch for flocks of barn swallows weaving aerial ballets above your head as your feet kick up insects, and box turtles hiding among the grasses. Admire the turtles, but please leave them be. They have strong homing instincts and moving them threatens their health and survival.

Resilience Trail - 2.3 Mile Loop Trail -  Resilience is the longer of the two loop trails offered in the preserve. Both trails leave the trailhead along the same route, continuing together through the eastern section of the ridgetop’s woodlands. When the two trails separate, Grasshopper Ridge Trail completes its loop in the ridgetops’s meadows whereas the Resilience Trail continues to wind through a mosaic of forest types. The woodlands include mature oak and hickory forests that haven't been disturbed for 80 or more years. Wildflowers here include perfoliate bellflower, black snakeroot, and wild comfrey. The trail also passes through younger successional hardwood forests, and stands of Virginia Pine that are reclaiming the open fields. Resilience Preserve has bountiful vernal pools left behind by the property’s earlier coal mining and reclamation activities. Look for salamander larvae with their external gills, wood frog and American toad tadpoles, and other aquatic life.