Whose woods these are — Soak in the season at Kidron’s trails
PHOTOS BY RANDY FATH
Allison Hirst, Tori Boyer and Miki Fath, friends who attend Dalton High School, walk through the woods at Kidron Community Park last month.
PHOTO BY JACQUI L. HERSHBERGER
Les Schumacher and J Augspurger maintain the trails.
By JACQUI L. HERSHBERGER
DGKN correspondent
KIDRON When life gets stressful, sometimes a walk in the woods can be a good way to gain a new perspective.
Thinking about where you are stepping, avoiding roots and taking turns can help you think about something else besides your problems.
Breathing in fresh air and seeing the beauty of nature can help refocus your thoughts.
A brisk walk with a friend can be a good way to get some exercise and talk to someone without wearing a mask.
Each season, the trails that wind their way through the woods at Kidron Community Park offer something different and beautiful to those passing through.
“The park is a special, quiet and traffic-free place to come anytime of the year,” says Les Schumacher, who first envisioned the trails.
When given the nod, he and other volunteers began to carefully carve the trails in to the wooded area, which is past the ball fields, and community and recreational buildings at the park off of Kidron Road.
“The spring wildflowers that cover the forest floor are beautiful,” he said. “The shady trails on a hot and sunny summer day are cooling and refreshing. The hardwoods in the fall are gorgeous in their brilliant and dazzling colors. A quiet walk on freshly fallen snow in the winter is also hard to beat.”
When Kidron Parks purchased a wooded section of land about 15 years ago, Schumacher’s interest was piqued. He approached the park board to see if he could put some trails through the trees.
The board was fine with the idea ‑ their only request was that the walking paths would have some character and not just be straight lines.
Schumacher envisioned where trails could go, then started clearing brush and downed trees. Butch Suttle, Tom Romey, Denny Hofstetter and J Augspurger (and for many years, his dog, Rudy) have helped with the trails over the years.
