Community Assets
My hike began on a mellow gravel pathway crossing a meadow. I paused to watch blackbirds and geese at a wetland before meandering through a blueberry barren, hopscotching a hemlock forest stream, goat-footing a rocky spine, sashaying a grassy oak glen, and gradually looping down to the start. In not even 2 miles, the route had almost everything.
This trail has siblings all over the park. Some are graded smooth and wide, while some are skinny, stony and rooty. Some are new, and some follow ages-old woods roads or paths. Some climb the heights; some meander the flats. Some visit wetlands, and some visit big lakes. All are well-marked, signed and mapped. All are welcoming.
They’re our community trails.
Most of these layouts, whether just one trail or 30, are new in the last 10 or so years, though a few are older. They’re in all corners of the park. They come in all shades of management and ownership, from municipal with paid staff to nonprofit and volunteer.
Stony Creek
The ramble noted above is
