Call it a stealth trail area.

Built by hand and expanded practically acre by acre over the past 15 years, approximately four miles of woodland trails in the South Whidbey Community Park off Maxwelton Road may have low visibility, but they have become one of the most popular walking and running spots on Whidbey Island.

Accessed deep inside the 120-acre recreation park, the trails loop through over 40 acres of forest and on the boundary lines of the park’s new, Langley Road Sports complex. Though hardly a challenge for hikers in search of adventure, the unofficially dubbed “Park and Rec Trails” distinguish themselves with their ease of use and access, making them especially popular with runners and fitness walkers.

Getting there: The trail head for the Park and Rec Trails is accessed by driving into the park — which is south of Highway 525 on Maxwelton Road — and up a wide, uphill dirt road near the entry. Parking is plentiful, both at the top of the road and down on the asphalt parking lots near the park’s office and ball fields.

The hike: Though hardly necessary, due to the intuitive design of the park’s trail system, a map is available at the trail head. With or without it, runners, walkers and horse riders can make short work of the Park and Rec Trails, as most individual trails are no more than two-tenths of a mile long.

Underfoot, trail users will find a mixture of crushed rock and groomed dirt, most of which is virtually free of roots and other entanglements. Second-growth trees shade all trails, with the exception of a new footpath atop the berm surrounding the soccer fields at the park’s Langley Road Sports Complex.

All this makes these trails the perfect place for a run or walk at any pace. The South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District, which operates the community park, even offers a “Walk Fit” program, through which regular fitness walkers can earn prizes for every 100 miles of walking or running they do on the park trails.

The trail system does offer a few singletrack trails, on which the day hiker, runner or walker can feel a little more isolated. Otherwise, the other trails in the park are wide enough for two people to travel abreast.

While the park trails are open to mountain bikes and do host regular mountain bike clinics, they are of little interest to the experienced rider.

Going farther: Those looking to put on a little more distance can step across Maxwelton Road and onto the Back-40 Trails system (profiled May 8 in The South Whidbey Record), a school-district-owned wilderness that offers another four miles of trails. Also, distance runners who wish to mix trail and paved road on their work out, can run the park trails to its extreme southern edge and access Langley Road, which connects with Maxwelton to form a loop that tacks on an additional two miles.