Barefooting Bulletin Board

There were only two of us who hiked at France Park, near Logansport, Indiana, but it was a wonderful place to hike and I'd recommend it for Hoosier barefooters and others visiting Indiana.

France Park is the site of several old stone quarries. There is a stretch of the old Wabash & Erie Canal that goes through the park and part of the trail runs on an old towpath. The park is owned by the town of Logansport, is very neat and secure. It is a family oriented park, with a swimming lake, horse trails, and Scuba available.

For barefooting, the trails were a mix of easy to down right difficult. Through the woods, most of the paths were rich earth and well-shaded by the good variety of trees. There were some rocky spots on the trails - burried rocks, not gravel. Around the water fall and through a couple of creek beds, the large rocks were wide and smooth. It was great to wade through the cool rushing streams.

There was also a part of the trail that went through a prairie. The trail there was mostly clover and bush-hogged. There was an observatory from which we could perview the wide variety of native plants growing in this prairie preserve.

There were also large sections of the trail that were not for 'beginners'. Much of the trail surrounds the quarries and they are very rocky and gravelly. The rough surfaces were abrasive. There were places we needed to climb.

We hiked for 2 1/2 hours. It was great fun. At Noon we sat for a delicious dinner of my wife's chicken salad, and potato salad. Linda Schultz (the other hiker) brought fresh strawberries from her organic garden and a trail mix of nuts, pumpkin seeds, sliced mangoes, and craisins.

We'll have another hike soon. We talked about Wildcat Creek near Kokomo sometime later this summer.

Barefoot Brian