Henry Horton State Park, TN
So when I moved to Tennessee 5 years ago, my goal was to visit all the state parks, because Tennessee is such a beautiful land. Up until last year shortly before I moved, I had visited...um...none. Time to change that!
Welcome to Henry Horton State Park.
This park was a little unusual because it is on the small side and bisected by a major Highway- 31. Now, to be fair, I did not explore the campgrounds and back country, so feel free to defend it as being much larger than it appears from the entry. However, based on what you find going in through the main entry- it's pretty small. It has a visitor's center, restaurant, swimming pool, conference center, lodge and several cabins which overlook a golf course right across the highway. Clifford and I had a hard time finding the trails though, which is kinda the whole reason I go to parks.
In the spirit of exploration, I googled the main entrance and nothing else. So I entered the park without knowing what I would find. The visitor's center is very prominent upon entry and might have been a helpful starting point, but since I had a dog, I couldn't go in. So we drove and looked for signs. We finally found a trail behind the conference center. It was their Storybook Trail.
On the plus side, this trail is paved, pretty level, and convenient to parking and a playground. It also has posted pages from a storybook to inspire conversations between adults and young children as well as helpful markers identifying trees.
On the negative side, some storybook pages were missing and some markers no longer matched what was behind them. But all in all, it was beautiful and being surrounded by the other public facilities really made me feel like I had entered a nostalgic summertime family-friendly summer camp movie.
As a bonus, check out this large rock off the side of the path that looked like a lion statue! It wasn't at all marked, so I don't know if it was supposed to look like a lion or if that was my own perception, but here it is- draw your own conclusion!
However, this was not a terribly vigorous trail, so off we went to find what we could find! Our next discovery was the extensive picnic area along the Duck River. This is the walk-in boat ramp for kayakers:
Look how clear the water is! I would have splashed a bit in it, but my dog is not a water dog and had no interest, so we took in the view and went back to looking for a trail head.
I went back to the highway and finished driving through the state park without seeing any trailhead signs. So I pulled into an empty parking lot and googled it. The trailhead was hidden beside a bridge and very unassuming looking, but I found it and we set off to check out the .7 mile Wilhoite Mill Trail.
It was rough, with lots of tree roots and some mild elevation changes, but nothing too harsh or impossible.
Never could get completely away from the highway sounds, but there were some beautiful views!
Little dog did end up giving out- a high level of curiosity and a love of smelling new things can only take you so far when you have little legs! Fortunately, we were close to the car, so I didn't have to carry him.
All in all, Henry Horton is a perfect little park for an outdoorsy family with little ones, I think. On to the next adventure!