Day Hike: Henry Horton State Park

The KTF Blog hit the road Saturday for an all-day outing featuring cross country, hiking, and tennis. With the sun shining brightly and afternoon highs at or near 70 degrees, it was a perfect day to be outdoors after an unusually cold and downright dreary winter. The middle school x-country meet, an event sponsored by the Tennessee State Parks Run Club, was held in Marshall County, near the town of Chapel Hill. My oldest daughter competed in the 2-miler, which saw both the Dickson County boys and girls teams come away victorious.

Running in 7th place, along the banks of the Duck River

 

This was our third trip in little more than a year to Henry Horton, yet we'd never hiked any of the trails. Being such a nice day with a couple of hours to kill before tennis practice in Nashville, we knew the time was ripe for backwoods exploration. We picked two 1-mile loop trails to cap our outing at the park, the Hickory Ridge Loop and the Wilhoite Mill Trail. These wooded trails are both clearly marked and easily navigated.

 

Along the Hickory Ridge Loop

 

 

Where the Wilhoite Mill Trail parallels the Duck River

 

Man-made creek as seen from the Wilhoite Mill Trail

 

The final leg of our outing planted us indoors in Nashville for our youngest daughter's weekly tennis session. But the nearly perfect weather lured my wife back outside to continue our walk, this time around the paved trail at Centennial Park. We walked the mile loop three times, bringing our total for the day to five miles on foot. What a great way to kick off meteorological spring!