For those who enjoy reading, adventure and the outdoors, look no further than the Palouse. The Albion and Garfield public libraries organized Spooky Trail Tales near both of their towns this October.
The Spooky Trail is a “self-led story time,” Colfax Library coordinator Catalina Flores said. Copies of a book are printed and individual pages are laminated and placed on the trail in order, one page at a time. Starting at the trailhead, families can read the first page of the book and hike the trail to read the rest until the end.
Beginning three years ago in 2021, Flores said Spooky Trail Tales began because of the pandemic. Sarah Anderson, the Albion Library librarian, wanted to find a safe and healthy way to encourage reading; Spooky Trail Tales not only encourages safe reading but is a way for entire families to participate in a fun fall activity.
“Together, as a family, it is a great way to get outside and get moving,” Anderson said.
This is the third year for Garfield to put on the Spooky Trail Tales at the Elberton hiking trail near a place nicknamed “the ghost town of Elberton.”
Anderson said she chose that spot because she hoped to have the program be both spooky and child-friendly.
The book for the Elberton spooky trail is “Magic, Myth, and Mystery: Bigfoot” by Virginia Loh-Hagan, which contains different facts and lore about Bigfoot. Anderson said there was one alleged Bigfoot sighting on the Palouse about eight years ago.
The Spooky Trail will be open for participation the entire month of October. Over the past few years, many people have come to participate in the Elberton trail.
“I can tell you that every year I get more and more people,” Anderson said. “There were people that came from Spokane, Lewiston, everywhere.”
There were 52 participants in 2021, and last year there were 67. People from the ages of 3–60 years old all participated in the trail. Anderson said she hopes for the trail to be an annual event based on the involvement of members of the Palouse and surrounding areas.
This is the first year for Albion Library to organize a Spooky Trail of their own. In the spirit of Halloween, the book Albion Library librarian Jackson Frishman chose is “The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight” by Jack Prelutsky. Each page with a poem from the book will be printed for families to read as they walk along Klemgard Park Trail, near Albion. The event will start on Sunday and end on Halloween on Oct. 31.
