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Towns Along the Way
An index of some towns near trails and parks that I've described.


















My Interesting Tales page has old front page items. Dated but still interesting.

Rails to trails: A discussion of historical connections to old rail beds

Radical Walking

Every dedicated walker has sometimes felt that their addiction was viewed as a crime. Taking a shortcut through someone's private property one might meet with the outraged "owner" of a large tract of land. I scare quote "owner" because I lean to the native belief that no one can really own land. We can be caretakers and as walkers we must be caretakers of any land we walk upon.

If some of this sounds familiar, you're part of a tradition that stretches back hundreds of years. "Whether in cities or the country, we are now in effect poachers in privatised space," concludes Donna Landry in an essay titled "Radical Walking."

She mentions 18th-century walker Foster Powell (right), who walked 402 miles in fives days, amongst other feats.



A cartoon of Foster Powell.This image is from a delightful collection of images of and writings about quirky characters in The Book of Wonderful Characters, published in 1869.
Finlo Rohr has written an excellent piece connecting walking with thinking, wandering, getting lost (in a good sense), writing, philosophy and the like. It's a BBC piece called "The slow death of purposeless walking" (May 1, 2014).


Some politics...

Here's a piece from the Knoxville Daily Sun describing cutbacks to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and similar parks across the U.S. 
Of course Trump's legacy has only made matters worse.
 
It's killing a thriving tourist industry and depriving millions of Americans of a cheap and healthy way to relax.





A view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Rocky Bald on the Appalachian trail (127.5
miles from Springer Mountain). A photo cannot do justice to the breathtaking
splendour of these mountains. After hours of exhausting trekking, the top of
a mountain is reached and there is an opening in the trail's forest canopy. You
cannot fail to be awestruck by the grandeur of these ancient hills. Photo: June 5, 2013 

In Canada, the federal government and the Ontario provincial government (and likely other provinces) slashed programs around 20212 and budgets have never really recovered. (See this Globe and Mail report for federal park cuts and this Toronto Star article for Ontario park cuts back in 2012. ) Same end effect: a nasty jab at affordable recreation for the middle and lower classes, a devastating kick at the livelihood of tourist operators, and the elimination of hundreds of research programs, youth programs and the like to generally lower our standard of living. False thrift. Governments have backed off these cuts somewhat since then.







Camping in the air. This is from the Daily Mail. Slackwalking and now camping on nets and ropes is definitely out there! Take a stroll with nothing but 420 feet of air between you and the desert sand.










Study of Gneiss Rock, Glenfinlas, 1853, Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford, England. Pen and Ink and wash with Chinese ink on
paper. Photo: From John Ruskin Wikopedia page.

Vanderwater Park, near Thomasburg, Ontario is my "home park." This ice and water pictorial essay of a little seasonal falls and creek that flows in the park, eventually pouring into the Moira River, describes one of my favourite haunts.

Photo: from the Daily Mail (see link above).

Stephen Gough trudged across Britain starkers. In October, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights rejected his bid to get them to support his claim that his rights are being transgressed.

He has spent an incredible amount of time in prison for his efforts. See this June 19, 2013 Guardian article for details on his latest jailing.   In February, 2013, the courts ordered him to cover up, but he  obviously didn't abide.

Prudery, attention-getting, psychological warts and so on aside, it's more about the right to be eccentric. The Brits, of all nations are experts at that.

After 2016, personal commitments have cut back Stephen's naked walnderings and he's dropped out of the news.

Stephen Gough hiking in Scotland. See the full Guardian (link to the
left) article for more. Photo from the Guardian site.

June 21 is naked hiking day in the United States. Think I'll pass. Just saying.

Of course, if you meet a naked hiker, depending upon your gender, it could be unsettling. Here's a woman who has some advice if you meet a naked hiker on the Appalachian, or any trail for that matter: Six safety tips a naked hiker taught me.

Here are the five most walkable cities in Canada in 2020, according to one source.

 

Texting and walking - not a good idea.
Texting and walking is more dangerous than listening to music or taking a call. In some provinces and states you can be ticketed for it.
.
 

Time to walk faster. Some studies indicate that older people who walk slowly will die earlier than those of the same age who walk faster. A 2012 report linked slower walking with a greater chance of getting dementia in later years.

On the other hand, some claim that walking slower burns more calories. Be careful here: an often-cited University of Colorado report by Ray Browning actually makes a more subtle point, which is that obese people who may like walking at a more leisurely pace will make more strides within a weight-loss management program than if they push themselves.

The Human Body is Built for Distance Check out this  New York Times article. It's mostly about running, but there are arguments here for walkers to ponder.

Walter Benjamin, in One-Way Street (1923-26):
 

"The power of a country road when one is walking along it is different from the power it has when one is flying over it by airplane. In the same way, the power of a text when it is read is different from the power it has when it is copied out.

"The airplane passenger sees only how the road pushes through the landscape, how it unfolds according to the same laws as the terrain surrounding it. Only he who walks the road on foot learns the power it commands, and of how, from the very scenery that for the flier is only the unfurled plain, it calls forth distances, belvederes, clearings, prospects at each of its turns like a commander deploying soldiers at a front. Only the copied text thus commands the soul to him who is occupied with it, whereas the mere reader never discovers new aspects of his inner self that are opened by the text, that road cut through the interior jungle forever closing behind it: because the reader follows the movement of his mind in the free flight of daydreaming, whereas the copier submits it to command. The Chinese practice of copying books was thus an incomparable guarantee of literary culture, and the transcript a key to China's enigmas."

I am walking; it is enough.
 

           
Ice grass, Nesowadnehunk Stream,

            Appalachian Trail, Maine.
            November, 2008