Burren Nature Trail

After spending the morning at the Cliffs of Moher, we decided to stop off for a quick hike in Burren National Park on the way to Athlone, where we were spending the night before continuing onto Dublin. There looked to be a couple of nice moderate hikes up Mullaghmore Mountain, but we were short on time and my wife and son were more interested in a nice stroll, versus a hike. So we opted to do the Nature Trail in Burren National Park, which provided a nice respite from sitting in the car.

We arrived at Gortlecka Crossroads and found a place to pull off on the side of the road. I got mixed up in the direction to the trailhead and we ended up walking a little ways north on Poulnalour Road before I realized my mistake, and we backtracked and found the trailhead. All the trails in the area leave from the same trailhead, and we followed the trail through an open pasture. After a couple of hundred yards, you cross the road and begin the loop. Interestingly, it looks like the trails to Mullaghmore Mountain just follow the road for a ways from this point, before the trail actually begins. When we were driving out, there looked to be a couple places to pull over in the road much closer to where the trails start to head up to Mullaghmore Mountain. If I were to do those hikes, I would drive on Poulnalour Road and find a place to park near where the trail actually begins.

Start of the trail

The nature trail continued along through some meadows bordering the forest, and fairly quickly we passed next to some forest before passing through a short section in the forest. We came out of the forest and passed by the Burrent limestone, which had a very cool look and texture to it. In the distance we could see Mullaghmore Mountain, and walked up onto a rise in the limestone to admire the views and take some photos.

Mullaghmore Mountain

We continued along the trail, and eventually it descended a bit into the forest. It reminded me a bit of the forests in western Washington State that I hiked for so many years before moving to the drier central part of Washington State. True to form, it was overcast, and while it felt like it might rain at any moment, we were spared the precipitation.

Forested section of the Nature Trail

We passed through some more limestone and forest, before the trail turned south and we proceeded through a meadow. It was easy hiking, although there were some rocky sections of the trail around the limestone. It's certainly a trail suitable for kids, as there is next to no elevation gain and it's a little less than a mile.

Open section of the trail

There were various flowers in bloom along the hike, mostly in the meadows but also on the border of the forest.

Flowers along the trail

The loop dropped us back onto the road, a short distance from where it began, and we ended up walking along the road back to the car. I certainly would have preferred to do a longer hike up Mullaghmore Mountain, but this quick loop was a nice break from driving and given the energy levels and time of day, made the most sense for us.