Cyclists ride the Panhandle Pathway south of Winamac on a brisk day. Photo provided
On the web
• Trail finders: The Pathway Panhandle starts at an old train depot at Main and Logan streets in Winamac (panhandlepathway.org). It’s among 1,275 miles of trail added this fall to the national trail system. Find a map of all of the “national recreation trails” at www.nrtdatabase.org. Find other kinds of trails in the national system at nps.gov/subjects/nationaltrailssystem.
The very rural 22-mile Panhandle Pathway out of Winamac is now a national trail. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced in October that the paved trail now joins more than 83,000 miles of routes for paddling, cycling, hiking and other activities in what’s called the National Trails System — more than 1,300 trails in all.
It joins the Kankakee River National Water Trail, which gained its status in 2016 after volunteers spent eight years marking and mapping 133 miles of the river and then pulling in dozens of letters of support from cities, parks, industry, conservation groups and others — ultimately to improve awareness, safety, access and conservation of the Kankakee.
The Panhandle also joins the lesser-known Witmer Trace Nature Trail inside of Ox Bow County Park near Elkhart, 1.1 miles of dirt and boardwalk that was designated back in 1983.
The status comes without money or staff. It doesn’t make the path a national park. And most trails aren’t in the database, including significant ones. The difference? Someone had to seek out the status.
Tom Anspach, a founding and former member of the board that created the Panhandle Pathway, started to file paperwork a year ago as current board members sought an extra tool to finally connect the path to two big parks at both ends.
Copyright © 2024, South Bend Tribune