First Day Hike at Trail End

Every January 1st, Trail End Historic Site participates in the “First Day Hike” program – a twenty-plus-year-old national initiative designed to encourage not only a healthy and active lifestyle but an appreciation for the nation’s parks and historic sites.

Starting at Trail End at 10:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day, 75 participants took a history walk through the northwest corner of Sheridan.

Shari Shada welcomed the crowd at the Mansion before the hike.

The walk went from the Mansion to the fairgrounds and back, with several stops and historic tidbits provided by Shada. One stop was on Lewis Street, where the electric streetcar line once ran through Sheridan. The line lasted for 15 years, and as less people rode the cars, the line ended in 1923. Shada explains one reason the streetcar service ended in the town.

From the fairgrounds the hike circled back toward the Mansion, with a stop at the buffalo pasture, and Shada talked about Pioneer Park, now Kendrick Park, and the zoo that used to be a part of the park.

It was an unseasonably warm New Year’s Day. Dogs were welcome and several people brought their leased dogs on the hike, and several youngsters participated as well. It was an interesting way to learn about some of Sheridan’s history.