Morak Trail
One of the park's shortest named trails — a 266-foot switchback shortcut from the Wildwood up to Fire Lane 1.
On this trailGetting there
The Morak Trail is one of the shortest named trails in Forest Park — about 266 feet, a twentieth of a mile, gone almost before it starts. It’s a footnote with a job: if you’re coming south on the Wildwood just past Milepost 10½, this little switchback lets you climb straight up to Fire Lane 1 and the Forest Lane Trailhead instead of backtracking. That’s the whole pitch. Fifty feet of gain packed into a couple hundred, then you’re on the fire lane.
Take it when it saves you steps closing a loop; don’t come looking for it as a destination. What earns it a name at all is the name itself — it honors Robert Morak, a park volunteer who painted the trail signs. A small tribute on a small trail, which feels about right.
Getting there
One way · from No trailhead of its own
- Start
- No trailhead of its own — the lower junction sits on the Wildwood Trail just past Milepost 10½, where a signed path switchbacks off uphill
- Orientation
- West-central ridge; reached only on foot — off the Wildwood Trail just south of Milepost 10½, or from the top via the Forest Lane Trailhead at the head of Fire Lane 1
- Parking
- None of its own — you arrive on foot from the Wildwood, or walk in from the gated Forest Lane Trailhead at the top of Fire Lane 1
- Ends at
- Tops out on Fire Lane 1 near the Forest Lane Trailhead; you're almost certainly using it to close a loop, so you continue on Fire Lane 1 rather than backtrack to the Wildwood
- Transit
- None
- Dogs
- leashed
- Best
- year-round in daylight