A cool autumn afternoon with the forest near its peak for fall colors may have been the best possible day to explore the Joachim Loop Trail at William C. Haggard Park in Herculaneum. But multiple times on the walk, I thought the path could be nearly perfect any time of the year.
For hikers, the trip does not provide challenges of craggy cliffs or steep slopes. The elevation changes are barely noticeable, so for those looking for a pleasant stroll in the outdoors, few places in Jefferson County can match the march through the wooded floodplain.
Like the all-inclusive Kade’s Playground that welcomes children of all abilities to play at Haggard Park, the crushed-rock trail provides easy passage for strollers, wheelchairs and any other people-powered conveyance. I found a few muddy spots the day after a significant rainfall, but such is life in the lowlands.
The main outer loop trail is 10 feet wide and nearly 1.2 miles long. Two six-foot wide interior cutoffs allow your walk in the woods to be shortened to just over a half-mile, but you also can wander for hours in peace among the leaves.
Following the west bank of Joachim Creek, the initial segment of the outer loop makes its first hard right turn at an overlook bench where you can watch the water tumble over an old concrete dam. The tall bridge overhead hardly distracts from the serenity.
The trail’s most unique feature marks the intersection of the outer and middle loop. Standing guard at the crossroad is a five-foot tall Sasquatch statue. Adorned in a traditional Herculaneum Blackcats cross country jersey with the candy-striped shorts, Bigfoot will inspire more smiles than scares. (Unfortunately, the second time I walked the trail last week, he had been stripped of his garments.)
Another hard right turn leads to the third loop, the shortest of the measured trails at just over three-quarters of a mile. One of the beauties of the connected loops and wide tracks is that it’s hard for a hiker to get lost. Everything ends up right where you started and the final quarter-mile or so of all three designated trails comes out of the woods and skirts by the park’s fairground areas and baseball fields.
As we walked, we imagined the route in wintertime. The crushed rock would provide a quick-drying, hard surface and enough sunlight could filter through the trees to warm up chilly visitors. In the spring, the potential for a variety of river land wildflowers along the path would be inviting when the thaw arrives. Summer trips could include kids in action on ball fields. The playground we walked past was busy with children on a Sunday afternoon, and the park’s other prime feature welcomed several guests as well. All Bark Village allows pets to run and play on two fenced-in fields.
While the streamside trail doesn’t showcase any spectacular views, watching creek water flow always has an allure. A soaring bald eagle spotted from the parking lot multiplied the park’s cool factor. The forested flats are a typical woodland, but other than the bald eagle, I saw no wildlife except for birds and squirrels. I’m sure a white-tailed deer sighting would not be uncommon at a different time of day.
The other thing I didn’t see much of made me happy. The city has worked hard to control the spread of honeysuckle bushes and other invasive species. There are a few areas with unchecked undergrowth, but most of the wooded area was open for wildlife watching.
Easy to get to and easy to navigate, the Joachim Loop Trail offers a taste of the outdoors for everyone to enjoy.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.