Hawthorn Trail

The Walk

It’s a quarter-mile traverse — under ten minutes — climbing gently across the slope rather than straight up it, so the hundred-odd feet of gain never really lands. The two shows are what you’re here for.

The first is the smoke tree at the Wildwood/Hawthorn junction. Through summer its leaves are a deep smoky purple, and in autumn they turn — first yellow, then orange — before they drop. The second runs along the Wildwood and Hawthorn: flowering cherries that open pink and white in early spring, roughly late March into April. Hit that short window and the traverse is briefly, genuinely lovely; miss it and the cherries are just green trees doing their quiet green work.

Listen For — and look for — the calendar, not the trail This stretch rewards timing over distance. The smoke tree’s autumn turn and the cherry bloom’s short early-spring window are the whole draw; the rest of the year the show is closed and this is honestly just a link. If you’re the sort who plans a walk around what’s flowering, note both dates and treat the Hawthorn as the reason to swing through the southeast quadrant in the right week.

At its far end the trail hands you off to the Maple Trail — and if you’re wondering about the maples clustered near that junction, they belong to the Maple Trail’s story, not this one. Take it if you’re building the loop.

Before you go

Set your expectations by the calendar. Outside the two seasonal windows this is a plain traverse — useful, shaded, and mostly there to get you between better-known trails. That’s not a knock; it’s what a good connector is for. But don’t drive out expecting blooms year-round. Check whether the cherries are open before you make a special trip, and remember the smoke tree saves its best for fall.

It’s foot-only ground, like all of Hoyt’s trails, so it stays calm. Walk it as one seam of a longer arboretum loop and it does exactly what it’s meant to: gets you somewhere good, with a chance of a little color on the way.