Local park runs a Walking Week

Spring Mill State Park near Mitchell is spending this week getting people onto its trails, with guided walks that start at 1 mile and stretch to a 10-kilometer route. (heraldtimesonline.com) The event runs April 12 through April 18 and is being organized by Spring Mill State Park, the Friends of Spring Mill State Park and the Bedford Hiking Club. Organizers said the daily schedule changes by length, terrain and time of day so new walkers and regular hikers can both join in. (wbiw.com) One of the marquee outings is a volkswalk, a club-style community walk with marked route options, offered at 5 kilometers, or 3.1 miles, and 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles. The Bedford Hiking Club also runs a year-round Spring Mill volkswalk on the same 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer format. (events.in.gov) (bedfordhikingclub.com) Walking Week is built around a park with a lot of range in a small footprint. Spring Mill has seven hiking trails across about 1,300 acres, plus one accessible paved trail at the Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom Memorial. (springmillstatepark.com) That trail mix helps explain the beginner-to-experienced pitch. The park’s listed routes run from a 0.25-mile accessible loop and a 0.375-mile moderate trail to rugged 2-mile and 2.5-mile loops through woods, caves and sinkhole terrain. (springmillstatepark.com) The program also uses the park as an outdoor classroom. The Herald-Times reported that some walks pair the mileage with nature learning on the trail, turning the week into both a fitness event and a naturalist-led introduction to the park. (heraldtimesonline.com) Spring Mill’s support group has been using events to bring visitors into the park beyond peak summer weekends. The Friends of Spring Mill State Park list park events and activity-center programs year-round, while the state calendar shows additional April programming around the same week. (friendsofspringmill.com) (events.in.gov) The week lands as southern Indiana moves into wildflower and hiking season, when Spring Mill’s forest trails, lake loop and Donaldson Woods routes are easiest to market to day visitors. By Friday, the organized walks are scheduled to wrap up, but the park’s regular trail system stays open for anyone who wants to keep going. (wbiw.com) (springmillstatepark.com)