JOHNSTON COUNTY, OK ― Residents in Johnston County have one more reason to get outdoors and soak up some fresh air. Daniel Armbruster has more on the new walking trail in Tishomingo.

The new walking trail at Pennington Creek in Tishomingo is something all Johnston County residents can enjoy.

"They’re going to have a picnic area where on Sunday afternoons, people can come down, wet a hook, and you know, relax," Johnston County Commissioner Roy Wayne Blevins says.

Blevins says the trail is the result of a joint effort between the county and Tishomingo city leaders. The trail used to be a road, but was destroyed by a flood in 2007. Tishomingo received a grant from FEMA to rebuild the area later that year.

That's when city leaders decided residents deserved better and asked for the county's help in the matter.

"So us three commissioners got together and we matched the grant with labor and equipment," Blevins says.

Commissioners raised the road up, and leveled it out with dirt. Johnston County resident James Latham says he's been walking the new trail almost every day.

"I enjoy it, like I said I get out and try to walk it about 4 to 5 times a week, and I appreciate the county fixing this road for us,” Latham says.

But walking isn't the only thing you can do on the new trail― you can get up close to nature, too.

"Bird watching is starting to be a very interesting thing now. It seems like there's several people from out of town that come in town to relax."

Blevins says Pennington Creek is also a great place to fish.

"Crappie season is coming up, late winter and early spring, and that's a big deal around this area, and this is the place to do it."

Both residents and Blevins say the area has had problems in the past with people littering and tearing up the roads. Blevins says he hopes people will now treat it as their own.

"There’s not a more beautiful scenery right here than on the banks of Pennington Creek, and people take it for granted and just kind of take advantage of it."

Plenty of people are already out enjoying the new trail. It should be completed by this summer.