Pikeville, Pike County Libraries open ‘story trail’ to bring together books and nature

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (WYMT) - The city of Pikeville and the Pike County Libraries have partnered to bring together children’s books with a family-friendly hike.

Pikeville’s Story Trail opened on Monday, Aug. 8 at Bob Amos Park and folks have come throughout the week to enjoy the trail.

“We have 24 posts along the trail with individual pages of a story,” said Pike County Libraries Program Coordinator Maggie Salisbury. “The idea is that you and your family can come read the story as you walk the trail.”

The trail is formerly a handicap-accessible trail, but the posts with story pages have been added to encourage families to utilize the easy-going path.

“It’s a quarter mile long, it’s ADA accessible, it is classified as ‘easy’, there’s no incline, you’re not going downhill or uphill throughout the entirety of the trail,” said Pikeville City Tourism Director of Outdoor Recreation Patrick Collins. “It’s a trail for everybody, there are no restrictions here that can prevent you from coming out and enjoying this trail.”

Collins added that the activities of reading and hiking on their own are sometimes boring for children, but the combination of both has families excited to take on the quarter-mile trail.

“When you add all of that together, it increases the experience to more than just reading a book or just walking a trail,” said Collins. “Mix the two together and you get the best of both worlds, and the kids really do love it.”

The story is changed every month and officials say special events are being planned for holidays like Halloween and Christmas.

Collins also added that another longer and more difficult trail will be opening soon at Bob Amos Park called “The Real McCoy Trail”, but encourages hikers of all skill levels to challenge themselves on the 4.5-mile loop. You can find more information on the trail’s Facebook page.

“It’s designed to challenge people, that’s the point, so you do it at your pace, it’s not a race,” said Collins. “Now, you certainly want to wear boots, you certainly want to take water, that’s everybody, but if you can’t make it, turn around and come back.”

Salisbury also said back-to-school events were recently hosted at the Pike County Library, but other programs are coming up for children who are homeschooled or not yet in pre-school.

“We have a home school group that will be meeting twice a month as well where we do activities with them, and our story time starts back in September as well for children under the age of five,” said Salisbury.

You can find a schedule for all Pike County Library events on its Facebook page or by calling your nearest library branch.

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