CHIEF LOGAN STATE PARK — Chief Logan State Park Superintendent Bruce Collinsworth is hoping the new additions to the park will enhance the enjoyment of its visitors.

The park has several nature trails that are popular with walkers, joggers and bicyclists, Collinsworth said.

Now, the park has a map of those trails located near the main entrance offices which is color coded. Each trail will be marked and graded to help people decide which trail is best for them — and to keep those who are not familiar with the trails from getting lost or wandering off them, Collinsworth said.

"We hope it will keep people from getting confused," Collinsworth said of the map, which is housed in a wooden frame near the parking lot at the park office. “You can look at the map here and see the Wilderness Trail which starts where the old mine is and it comes out at the wildlife exhibit.”

Collinsworth said the main concern was to help the public become familiar with the trails and to avoid incidents where people get lost in the woods.

“We have 14 trails and together they cover around 22 miles or so of land,” Collinsworth said. “They are very popular, too, especially at this time of the year when the weather is getting better.”

The map also shows the degree of difficulty of each trail, as well as estimated times it takes to walk them at a leisurely pace.

Collinsworth said the map went up in March after a discussion with the Logan MountainBike Association, which assisted greatly with the project.

"They did the map for us, and we furnished some of the material for the structure that holds it and they furnished the rest of it,” Collinsworth said. “They did an excellent job on this and the park and public are luck for their interest in it.”

Collinsworth said the outdoor trails are probably the park’s best-kept secrets considering how many people use them daily for exercise and scenic enjoyment and how little the trails are discussed by visitors.

For more information about Chief Logan State Park call 304-792-7125 or call 1-800-Call WVA or check out their website www.chiefloganstatepark.com