Walk off Christmas pounds; take Monon historic trail hike
Comet staff report

Get ready to try out those new boots, gloves, coats and scarves you're expecting to get for Christmas. Delphi Historic Trails has scheduled a hike for Dec. 26 along a historic part of east Delphi.

Walkers should meet at the Canal Center in Delphi at 1 p.m. Weather could cause cancellation or moving indoors for a talk while looking at maps. Hikers are advised to dress warm in layers and be ready to hike through snow on ungroomed landscape. Members of the group will be given a choice between an easy or a difficult walk.

The trolley will shuttle the group to the east side of Delphi where the Monon High Bridge Trail begins. Similar hikes in the past were organized by the late Charles Gerard with as many as 85 people attending on this day after Christmas.

Dan McCain, Delphi Historic Trails chairman, said the mission is to first explore the developed rail trail that skirts the valley high up on the side north of Deer Creek. For those who wish to walk only the easier trail portion and then return to the Center, the trolley will pick up at the Sherry Mears farm lane that connects to the trail route.

Hearty hikers may go on to the old trestle and overview Deer Creek from the exhilarating height once experienced by the train travelers. Then on the return circuit the trek will take the remaining hikers on into the valley via an old farm access tunnel used for livestock and two row equipment going to the lower field.

McCain said exploring the area along Deer Creek will reveal the potential location of the Hoosier Heartland Highway as it comes into the valley approximately north-south. A view first of "Bossard Waterfall" and then "Slate Bluff" appears just across the creek. Then hikers will encounter the site where the old mill dam remnants can yet be seen.

The trolley will pick up from Indiana 25 at Robinsons Run (or as the Run used to be called, "Gut Crick," because of the slaughterhouse upstream).

McCain said there will be hot treats back at the Center. He added that a response form will be offered for collecting important feelings about the history of the valley and the pending new highway.