Story Hike trail opening Sunday

The grand opening of the new Jefferson County Park Story Hike, sponsored by local Girl Scout Junior Troop 9297, will be from 1-3 p.m. Sunday.

During the grand opening, hikers will get a free bag of trail mix for each family member, and a Girl Scout will lead them through the trail.

The mostly level trail is well marked around a preserved prairie area in the park. The trail begins and ends by the sand volleyball court near Shelter 3.

The featured story for May through August will be part one of ?Prairie Storms,? written by Darcy Pattison and illustrated by Kathleen Rietz. In the story, the prairie grasslands are explored month by month depicting various weather conditions and seasonal storms using lyrical lines and striking illustrations. In the story, hikers also will get a glimpse of the lives of a number of prairie animals, such as ground hogs, prairie dogs, red foxes, bald eagles and burrowing owls.

Each two-page spread of the book is affixed to a presentation board attached to a post. Posts are placed some distance from each other along the 0.6 mile-long loop trail. Participants can stop at their leisure to read before moving on to the next page.

The Girl Scouts, lead by Lori Fritz, chose to do the project to earn their Bronze Leadership Award. It is the highest award girls can earn at the Junior level. They teamed up and used their skills to take action and make a difference in the world. They hope the Story Hike will encourage literacy and healthy outdoor activity for all ages.

Several local businesses donated nearly all the supplies for the project. Sylvan Dell publishing company gave permission to use the book. The Jefferson County Park board granted permission to use the prairie trail and has offered to maintain the trail and the area around the presentation posts.

The Story Hike will be a permanent fixture in the park and have new stories once or twice a year. Part two of ?Prairie Storms? will be installed in August.

For information or story suggestions, call Fritz at 919-3402.