Are We There Yet?

It started as a simple question. After supper the other night my daughter asked if I'd like to go for a walk. I'd had a busy day at work and she'd been home all day with her 2-year-old son. We both needed a little diversion.

Our town has recently formed a network of trails for hiking and cycling. One is not far from our home and I've been wanting to check it out. When I mentioned this as my choice for our walk she reluctantly agreed. "Where does the trail go?" she asked. I really didn't know where it ended up but I knew it led to a newly built pedestrian bridge that spanned the nearby six-lane parkway. "How long is it?" I figured it couldn't be more than a mile or two.

Taconic Parkway pedestrian overpass or "bridge to nowhere"

We set off at an easy pace. The early spring evening was perfect weather-wise. Warm enough but not too hot or humid. The sky was clear and sunny. Now a trail that parallels a six-lane highway is not exactly a trip into the wilderness but we did have the whole thing to ourselves. I commented that it was nice not to have show-off skinny people leaving us in their dust. We could see the traffic on the parkway below us and on our other side we saw some backyards and some fences. Eventually the trail dipped down to wooded areas with a stream. We saw a family of deer and heard the evening peeping of frogs in the wetlands.

After about 30 minutes of wooded bliss my daughter asked "how far to the bridge?". I had no idea. It certainly didn't seem very far when I was driving on the highway. We kept going expecting the bridge to be around the next bend. It wasn't.

We came upon some wooden walkways over wetland areas. There were some pretty flowering trees in bloom. The trail moved further away from the highway once we were past the developed areas. At times, we couldn't see the road at all but were still within earshot. The sun had gotten low in the sky and we no longer saw our shadows. We passed a clearing where there had been a brush fire. The ground was charred and there was a smoky scent in the air. After we'd seen the deer I began to worry about ticks. I was thinking I should have worn light colored clothing so any ticks that hitched a ride would be visible when I got home.

"Is that a bear?" my daughter asked in a frightened voice. I laughed. Nobody had seen bears in our area in 100 years. In the twilight the big rock did resemble a bear. We'd been walking for close to an hour by this time. There were some steep hills and rough spots. We still hadn't seen the bridge and realized that it was getting dark enough that returning the way we came was going to be tricky. We started joking around about how embarrassing it would be to get lost so close to a main highway. We really weren't lost but nobody knew where we were. Neither one of us could carry the other if we got hurt. The trail didn't look like it was accessible to emergency vehicles. We did have our cell phones with us. The GPS showed our location as not near anything. By this time we started seeing bats flying in the trees. It would have been nice to bring along a flashlight.

Trailside wreckage.

In the darkness I saw what looked like a wrecked couch by the side of the trail but found it was the barely recognizable remains of a car. (The camera flash shows it better than we could see it.) I can't see how anyone could have gotten a car or a sofa to that inaccessible spot. We'd seen tire tracks of either ATV's or mountain bikes but no way could a full size vehicle drive there.

Finally the bridge was up ahead. We'd decided that when we got to the other side we'd call home and have someone come pick us up if we could figure out where we were. There was a bench and a kiosk near the bridge which we'd hoped would have some kind of map. No luck there. Only some historical photos of the parkway.

It was fun to be up above the road and watch the cars speeding below us. It was now way too dark to take a picture of our triumphant moment. We watched the cars for a bit then kept on walking.

After crossing the bridge we were nowhere near any road. We needed to go further on before we could have anybody drive to us. There were two marked trails to choose from. By this time my daughter had downloaded a bright flashlight app to her phone. The trail markers were reflective and we could follow them with the light from the phone. One trail led to Legacy Field and the other led to a nearby college campus. We had no idea how far the college was from where we were standing. The field was brightly illuminated and we could see it ahead. We started following the marks for that trail but soon we came to a steep slope that descended into the blackness of a deep, narrow valley. We turned back to the other trail not knowing how long it was. Fortunately this trail veered close to the lit-up field and I was getting pretty tired by this time. "Go to the light" I insisted. It was up a steep, rocky hill but but easy to see where I was stumbling. I felt, at this point, if I fell and sprained something EMS would be able to extricate me without a helicopter. .

We came out of the woods to a turf-covered field where a women's lacrosse game had just finished. Lots of people, cars, and even a Mr. Softee truck. We'd emerged from the wilderness! My daughter called her husband to come rescue us but the gps maps hadn't updated to show the road which led to where we were. We started walking toward the road as all the cars were leaving the field. Soon we were the only ones left in the park. Eventually my son-in-law pulled up and we gratefully climbed in.

We both enjoyed our little trek but next time I try something new I plan to prepare a little better. My concern for ticks is advisable in this area. Lyme disease, spread by the tiny deer tick, is all too common. Dressing properly in wooded areas helps prevent tick-borne illnesses. I won't go to an unknown area so close to darkness next time. A trail map would help too. I've done a little research now and found there are a lot more trails to explore. I'm lucky to have access to all these outdoor walkways. Our town doesn't have many sidewalks and I prefer a little off-road adventure to dodging traffic.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan