By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
While Walpole has always had a beautiful set of trails available to the public, there has never been an impetus for residents that aren’t already hikers to set out and explore them. Because of the coronavirus crisis, suddenly, that has changed. Now, more people than ever are taking to the woods to get some fresh air, distance from their neighbors, and to see the over forty miles of trail Walpole has to offer.
For Gary Riggott, the chairman of the Trails Committee, that should provide an opportunity for the town to realize all the work he and the other committee members have been doing over the years. So far, Walpole has left every town trail open, and Riggott has noticed the trails have been more crowded than usual.
“From my own observations, the parking lots seem very crowded, and whenever I’m on the trails I see other people. So, in general, there seems to be more activity out there. More people walking.”
While Rigott noted that most of the maintenance calls about downed trees he has received are from the usual committee members, he has also received calls from people who aren’t usually hikers.
“I did get an unsolicited call from a woman that said 'I want to thank you for the work you do keeping the trails open.' She had just gone on a trail out by Dog Rock on Plimpton Street, and she said it was her first time ever on that trail, and it’s beautiful. And then she said 'thank you for the work that you do.' It was really nice, getting an unsolicited call like that from a name I didn’t recognize. You get a call like that and it goes a long way. It kind of keeps us going.”
One of the things Riggottt has done, which is paying off in spades during this time, is put up new trail markers, which will make it easier for new hikers. Ironically, while the new markers are proving very helpful during the time of the lockdown, Riggott only had time to put them up because of it.
“One thing I’m in the middle of now, is I have new trail markers for the trail intersections in the town forest. If you go out there, you’ll see a white diamond, about a four-inch square, and it has a three-digit number on it. Those numbers correspond to an intersection number on our trial map, so somebody that doesn’t know the town forest that well can look up, see the number on the tree, and then if they have the map on their phone or a hard copy, pinpoint their location. Rather than put a certain type of marker on the trail to let you know you’re on the red trail or the blue trail or whatever, I decided to label the intersections, because that way you pinpoint your location on the trail. We did this at Adams Farm two or three years ago. It just took me until now to actually order the markers and hang them. This was planned anyway, but the quarantine gave me time to do it.”
Unlike other groups that have seen tons of events cancelled, the Trails Committee doesn’t offer a lot of events outside of their annual New Year’s Day hike. Still, Riggott noted that he does like to speak to seniors at the senior center about the town forest, and take them for a guided walk along the old rail trail behind it. He was working on his spring calendar when the lockdown was enacted. The lockdown also impacted the Walpole Day tent he was looking to use as a recruiting tool and invite the Norwood Trails people to come and see.
When pressed on which trail he’d like to see first time hikers try, Riggott pointed to the loop from South Street to Jarvis Farm, which should take about 45 minutes. It offers hikers a chance to see the new boardwalk and the bird activity the wetlands it traverses provides.
Still, the big thing for Riggott is the potential that with so many new hikers hitting the trail, the town is realizing how important the Walpole Trails Committee is; perhaps some residents will decide to get involved with it.
“The potential positive outcome is [that there are] more people on the trails than maybe would otherwise. And getting that much more exposure can only be a good thing. [In] the charter of the trails committee, one of the components is promotion of the trials and maintenance of the trails. Promotion means making people in town aware of the network of trails that surround the town. As people start to walk more, that may lead them to look a little bit further. So if someone is in the town forest for the first time, they’ll say: 'This is really nice. I wonder where else I could go." And then they’d go to Adams Farm and see the network of trails there. Hopefully, people take this as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about the trials in town. I think this will help. Maybe in a few weeks, we’ll start getting emails saying: 'Hey, I want to join the trails committee, or town forest committee.”
