Jan 16 2015

Safe Community Paths are the Answer

Walking to School Isn’t Inherently Dangerous

boy walking on trail

Encourage kids to walk!

Parents in Maryland are being investigated because they let their elementary children walk a mile home from school. If they really believe that the community isn’t safe for walking, then they should be using their time and resources to build safe community trails rather than hassling parents for doing something that they should be congratulated for. Kids should walk to and from school. It’s good for exercise, good for the environment and good for independence. Instead of avoiding issues, we should be meeting them head-on rather than treating the symptom. In this case, the only legitimate safety issue is cars, and that issue can be avoided simply by building safe paths around schools and throughout the community.

Build Community Trails One Mile at a Time

Community trails and bike paths are a wise investment. They are much cheaper than constantly building more roads and constantly battling childhood obesity. Trails can be built one section at a time and should be required infrastructure that is built every time new roads, bridges & housing developments are built. A modest up-front investment in community paths will save money over the long run and promote a more healthy citizenry.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2015/01/16/safe-community-paths-answer/

Jan 12 2015

Sark Island: A Car Free Paradise

Island Trails

Sark island trail for bikes & pedestrians

La Coupee Route on Sark

The Island of Sark is tough to get to, but well worth the journey. It is located off the coast of Normandy, France, but accessed, indirectly from England. Since there is no airport on the island, the only way to get there is on a boat from England to Guernsey and then another boat from Guernsey to Sark. Once there, you’re still not home free. Since cars are not allowed on the island, your boat will land at one of the world’s smallest ports, you’ll walk through a tunnel, then you’ll ride a horse-drawn wagon to your accommodation. Now you’ve got to admit, that sounds fun.

Walk, Ride Bike or Ride Horse Drawn Carriage

Once on the island, you have three choices for transportation. If you are a hiker, you’re in luck, because whether you’re on a coastal path or one of the main ‘thoroughfares’ of Sark, you do not have to worry about traffic. Since cars aren’t allowed on the island, you have no fears of pollution, traffic jams or getting run over by a texting driver. If you’re a bicyclist, you’re also in luck, because you’ll be king of the road… well other than those pesky horse-drawn carriages. But don’t worry, you’re safe. The horses are quite friendly as are the carriage drivers.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2015/01/12/sark-island-car-free-paradise/

Dec 29 2014

Trailsnet Foundation

Vital Trail Infrastructure

Munro Trail on Lanai, HI

Island Trail

When we think of charitable causes for third world countries or for the environment, we often think of food, clothing, shelter & medicine. And these are fine charitable contributions. But these contributions are futile unless there is a way of getting them to where they are needed. Typically these contributions come from developed countries where transportation is as simple as getting in a car, truck or bus and going from point a to point b.  But what if neither roads nor vehicles are available? In many ways, no roads is  positive rather than negative. But some form of transportation is vital for people and supplies. It just doesn’t always have to involve roads and internal combustion vehicles. The transportation infrastructure can be trails and the mode of transportation can include foot travel, bicycles, and other personal transportation vehicles (PTVs). In many cases, the current trail structure is wonderful for basic pedestrian travel. However, just like developed countries have come to rely upon roads for their transportation/freight needs, smaller countries & island communities rely on a trail system for these same needs. However, they could use help in upgrading these trails. Over the next couple years, Trailsnet intends to focus our efforts on two specific geographic regions to help the local people improve their trail systems. It will be up to the locals as to whether they want the trails to be used for: foot traffic only, recreation, transportation, hauling supplies or tourism. (or, of course, a combination of the above)

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/12/29/trailsnet-foundation/

Dec 13 2014

Long-Distance Trail Movies

Wild set on Pacific Crest Trail

Reese Witherspoon stars in Wild, the movie set on the Appalachian Trail

Reese Witherspoon in Wild

First there was the movie The Way starring Martin Sheen and set on the Camino de Santiago, a long-distance hermitage trail in Spain. Now we are happy to see a movie set on the Pacific Crest Trail in California, Oregon and Washington. This latest movie is called Wild and stars Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed and Laura Dern as her mother. Cheryl changed her last name to Strayed after she strayed from her husband then got a divorce. Her life was in a death spiral of hard drugs and demeaning sex when she decided to forego standardized therapy and take matters into her own hands – or, in this case, feet. Despite having no experience as a long-distance hiker, she set out to conquer the Pacific Crest Trail starting in the Mojave Desert of California and heading toward Canada. As you can imagine, she suffered numerous setbacks along the way, but as you can also imagine, the trail proved to be her ultimate therapy, and she learned a lot about life and, most importantly, about herself.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/12/13/long-distance-trail-movies/

Dec 10 2014

Controversial Trail Topics

How Controversial Can a Trail Be?

Look on both sides of this post. Now look above it and below it. What do you see? More importantly, what don’t you see? Let me count the things you don’t see:

  1. advertisements
    controversial trail topics

    money talks

  2. corporate sponsorship
  3. government sponsorship
  4. affiliate sponsorship
  5. donor funding
  6. volunteer obligations

So what’s my point? Go look at other trail websites, and you’ll see that they’re beholden to a number of different entities. Therefore, they have to be especially careful what they include on their website. NOT TRAILSNET!! We are free to discuss the most controversial trail topics.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/12/10/controversial-trail-topics/

Nov 26 2014

Nicaragua Canal Trail

Nicaragua Canal Trail routes

Proposed routes for the Nicaragua Canal

Nicaragua Canal

In December of 2014, work is scheduled to begin on the Nicaragua Canal, also known as the Nicaragua Grand Canal. This is a rare opportunity to work, in conjunction with the canal construction, to build a transcontinental trail, the first of its kind in the world. Please take a look at the email that I sent to canal proponents, including government entities in Nicaragua, the environmental planning group for the Chinese Company that will be building the canal and others. I would love to get feedback from the environmental, recreational, transportation and, of course, trail communities.

 

Dear Friends of the Nicaragua Canal,
The planning and construction of the Nicaragua Canal affords incredible new opportunities. Among these opportunities is a chance to plan, from the outset, a transoceanic multipurpose trail that runs alongside the Nicaragua Canal and spans the entire width of Nicaragua.
Trail Introduction
The Nicaragua Canal Trail will serve many purposes, cater to numerous groups, provide a multitude of benefits and be incredibly cost-efficient to build. Since you will undoubtedly be building service and access roads on both sides of the proposed canal, a portion of these roads can be repurposed into trails once you near completion of the canal much as canal towpaths and abandoned railroad corridors are utilized for trails throughout the world. Building a major trail like this, from scratch, does not usually fit into the transportation and recreation budget. However, repurposing current rights-of-way can be much more economical and feasible.
Trail Purposes and Highlights
The Nicaragua Canal Trail would serve multiple purposes:
  • It could provide a recreational trail that would serve as an incredible tourist attraction.
  • It would provide an alternative and economical transportation option for locals.
  • It would provide an environmentally friendly option for locals and tourists.
  • It would provide an economic boost for current and future tourism and trail-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants & bicycle rental/repair shops.
  • The trail would be available for a wide range of users including hikers, bicyclists, equestrians and many other personal transportation vehicles.
  • Beyond the two extremely valuable purposes of providing both a recreational and commuter trail, the Nicaragua Canal Trail would also have the potential for use as: a local access road, an emergency access road, a firebreak and a construction/maintenance access road in places.
The trail would immediately create international buzz among travelers, recreationalists and environmentalists. It would be the first multipurpose transoceanic trail, the first east-west transcontinental trail, the longest multipurpose tropical trail in the world and the longest multipurpose trail in Central America. It would be an incredibly unique and desirable tourist attraction and a huge draw for tourists, environmentalists and recreationalists throughout the world.
Funding for the Trail
As mentioned above, the Nicaragua Canal Trail would cost a fraction of what it would cost to build a trail from scratch. And maintaining a multipurpose trail costs an extremely small fraction of maintaining a road or highway. The trail would be built using concepts already successfully utilized for rails-to-trails, rails-with-trails, canal trails, park trails and urban trails. But, it would still require funding. Fortunately, since trails provide transportation, recreation and environmental benefits, funding sources are plentiful. Some potential funding sources include:
This list just scratches the surface of the thousands of potential funding sources so that no single entity is burdened with too large a portion of funding the Nicaragua Canal Trail.
How to Get Started
Is the Nicaragua Canal Trail feasible? Now is the time to explore that possibility while in the planning and early stages of canal development and construction. It would be my pleasure to provide you with a preliminary feasibility overview as well as suggestions for a step-by-step plan to explore the possibility of developing the trail. At this point, you truly have nothing to lose by at least considering such a trail.
What Can I Provide?
As you can see, I am interested in helping to get the Nicaragua Canal Trail off the ground. This trail would be a huge asset to recreation, the environment, health/exercise, transportation, tourism and Nicaragua’s economics. I would be glad to assist you in the following areas:
  • Initial trail introduction to interested parties
  • Trail route exploration
  • Trail feasibility determination
  • Funding options for the trail
  • Providing publicity and public awareness of trail
  • Promoting trail on social media and beyond
  • Securing help ranging from trail organizations, trail engineers and trail development interns
  • Forming a Board of Directors for the Nicaragua Canal Trail
  • Developing a website and social media presence for the trail
Once again, the most important point to remember at this stage is: You have nothing to lose by at least exploring the possibility of developing a trail in conjunction with the Nicaragua Canal. And you have so much to gain if it turns into a reality. As I mentioned before, I would be happy to assist you in the beginning stages and would be glad to meet with officials from the Canal development team as well as officials from the Nicaragua government and private interest groups.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to explore this idea further. In the meantime, I will be starting to discuss this idea with members of the international trails community as well as other environmental, media and recreation groups. I’m excited to begin talking about a potential Nicaragua Canal Trail.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2014/11/26/nicaragua-canal-trail/