This follow up is necessary to the previous post where I talked about a great place to walk at Lakewood Park, Florida’s highest point. The improved trails, signage, trail map and other upgrades done over a year ago were due to an awesome young man which I know personally.
Eugene Hall is a kid that I’ve had the pleasure of watching grow into a young man working hard as a runner. Cross country (5K) runner at Paxton High School. Not only was he an excellent cross country runner but the kid was fast too and set records for our school in 400 meter competition. As a huge fan of Paxton High School sports I somehow became the cross country and track (self designated) number one fan. One of my grandsons was a cross country runner and track participant, maybe that’s how I became involved? Felt like I had a special connection with all those boys and girls on the track and field teams. Attended all the meets possible, got involved as much as was allowed, and thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids compete.
We used Lakewood Park as a training area especially for cross country training. Coach Gilbert would drive a bus load of boys and girls to the Park after school some days and the kids would put in some hard workouts. We also did some training and meets, inviting other schools for competition at Lake Jackson in Florala, AL, just up the road, article about Lake Jackson coming soon. 🙂
I said all that to let you know Eugene’s attachment to the park and maybe where his idea came from to improve the trails? When they were training there the trails were not nearly as defined, no signs and sometimes it was hard for the kids to know if they were on the trail or not.
The trail map you see out front and the signs throughout the trail are some of Eugene’s work.
I’d like to share an article with you from the Walton Sun written on April 24, 2020:
MOSSY HEAD — Eugene Hall of Mossy Head received his Eagle Scout Award on Feb. 8. 2020.
He learned at that time that he was number 1 out of 97 scouts in the quality of his project, according to an email from his grandmother, Libby McScheehy.
A plaque will be displayed at the Scout Headquarters and he received a lifetime membership without dues in the National Eagle Scout Association.
His project involved upgrading the trail at the highest point in Florida, a state park called Lakewood Park. He widened the trail and removed debris, cut down trees, added mulch donated by Chelco, made a new trail map, and added eight new trail signs, lumber donated by Hodges Lumber.
He also updated the trail map digitally and made it more accurate.
Hall is also president of his junior class at Paxton High School. In sports he has been running with the varsity track team in track and cross country since he entered sixth grade and has gone to state the last two years.
Recently he and his teammate and training partner Philip Anderson did their first half marathon in Andalusia, Alabama and broke the course record.
Clicking the link to the Walton Sun Article will display photos of not only Eugene but some of the work he did.
Eugene was a Junior at the time of this article but will be graduating in just a few days from Paxton High School. Already miss seeing that young man compete.
This post is just my way of saying THANK YOU to Eugene for the improvements of the trails at Florida’s Highest Point in Lakewood, Florida. He deserves a lot of credit as his work has made it a pleasure for me and others to walk and do their exercises to improve over all health. Also a nice place to visit while out riding the motorcycle. Every time I go there to walk those trails, I think of that young man and the work he did and the improvements he accomplished!
Throwing in a little video below of my ride out to Lakewood Park yesterday, May 13, 2021. 🙂
Hope you found this interesting. Thanks for reading and hopefully following. Not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man that loves to ride motorcycles. Not really a Biker “motorcyclists” fits better.
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Tags: #crosscountrycompetition, #eaglescout, #floridashighestpoint, #lakewoodpark, #motorcyclerides, #paxtonhighschool, #trails
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