High Knob Recreation Area

The hiking club got back on the trail again after about a 6 week hiatus.  The humid, stormy weather that continued throughout August kept us waiting for a nice weekend.  Yesterday was perfect.  We had most of the gang out and a couple grandsons too.  We visited the newly reconstructed observation tower first.  It was very nice and offered some great 360 degree views.  From there, we hiked down Chief Benge trail for a 2 mile round trip and then headed down to the lake area.  At the lake, we were pleased to find restrooms and picnic tables.  After a picnic lunch, we headed out on lakeside trail.  We found it interesting that the area was well kept, with some nice touches, like fairly new cedar benches, and a trail bridge for viewing the spillway at the dam, but there is so little information on the trails.  There are many miles of trails connecting the recreation areas in the national forest between Wise and Scott counties.  It would be great to have a good map with accurate mileages.  We only logged 3 miles on the trail, but we were happy to be in the woods again!  And those kiddos sure seemed to enjoy their hike too!