September 22 - Walking Trails

Lyle and I like to walk. Every day we like to walk somewhere. When we walk together, Lyle keeps me on the pathway or lets me know if other people are coming our way. When I walk alone, these are the same two things that can possibly give me troubles.

While I rarely walk on unfamiliar trails by myself, even on familiar pathways, I need to keep my wits about me. The edges or shore lines of walking trails are not always clearly defined. Some trails do have a painted yellow line to show the shoulder. My cane or walking stick cannot detect paint on the ground, and in poor light I do not see it. On rougher trails, the gravel on the path might merge with the gravel over the edge. I need to concentrate if I am to stay on the trail itself.

My second problem is staying out of the way when other people are approaching. Bikers coming from behind are pretty good at ringing their bike bells, but a silent jogger approaching from the rear can nearly startle my socks off!

Strangely, the bigger issue for me is people coming towards me. I suppose that they think I can see them coming. This is nearly always a false assumption. I see them only when they are practically beside me, appearing as it were out of nowhere. That is when I nearly jump out of my skin with a sudden start.

I will continue to enjoy my daily walks, but I am grateful to the bikers who use their bike bells and to the other hikers who call out a cheery greeting as they come closer.

Now I haven’t mentioned snow covered trails, but that is another story. Hopefully we will have a little more time yet before winter is here.