I stumbled upon a walking trail very close to my home recently on the Alltrails app. I highly recommend this app if you like to hike, just FYI. I was surprised to find something like this so close to me. A local school has a nature preserve that has several trails for people to walk on. I took my faithful friend, Vom Woodruff’s Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, and we checked it out. My European Rottweiler is always ready to go for a long walk.
This trail was very impressive and exceeded my expectations for where and what it is. The area is around 80 acres or so but, there are several trails that loop together and allow you the ability to walk as much as you’d like. They have beehives, covered areas, amphitheaters, swamps, and a river. The coolest part though is the boardwalk through the swamp. I found another trail once in SC that has this as a feature, but I have yet to hike it. Now, I don’t have to go nearly as far and can enjoy a boardwalk through a swamp as often as I’d like. This was fun to do and see. It’s a long enough boardwalk that you can’t see the end or the beginning once you get on it. There are areas that are wider too in case you want to stop or must pass someone. As you walk along the trail, there is a great view of the swamp. The trials are very wide, well kept, and clean. It’s also nice that you are not so far away that you can’t get out quick if you need to. I love being miles away from civilization, but it has advantages to not be.
My pup and I have been to this trail several times since I originally went, and it has become one of our favorite walks. It crossed my mind this week, as I drove over a bridge that fences the property where the trail is, that I used to want to explore those woods as a child. How ironic that now I get to as often as I would like. It’s funny to me how things like this come full circle in life. If you want to see more pictures from this hike, check out my website invisiblekatanaartwork.com or monitor my social media. My photos from my initial hike will be uploaded soon.