COLUMN: Trailing or Leading: Visitors make the trail less efficient but more fun

It’s getting so bad that a guy can’t get any work done.

A couple weeks ago, I was determined to assemble a couple picnic tables to go with the new pavilion on MYPath. It wasn’t a complicated process. I just needed to attach the table, legs and benches with bolts. Darrell White volunteered to help me.

As we started unpacking the boxes that held all the parts and materials, David Henk approached. He had just been on the trail with his camera and large lens. He was taking photos of some of the birds that hang out near the path. Darrell is also a photographer, so that led to conversations about photography, birds and MYPath in general.

Eventually, we got back to work. The tables had been delivered to the Soil and Water Conservation office. The destined location was under the pavilion, which is down the trail and across the bridge. So, we had to both assemble and transport. Due to rain, snow and mud there were some other complications, like the instructions being frozen in ice, then disintegrating. But it wasn’t too complicated. The interruptions were the thing that made it a longer process.

As we were moving one table into place, we met a couple that were new to Owen County. They had been living and traveling in an RV for many years. They decided to settle down and had recently moved into one of the houses in the Cook development on Texas Pike. The husband was recovering from an ankle injury and needed a steady, level path, like MYPath. They were interesting, and their dog was very nice.

A woman walking a dog passed by. We only talked with her briefly. Then a neighbor from across River Road came over. He has been keeping an eye on the trail construction and activity on the path. He stopped by to say he liked the pavilion. We chatted for a while. He reported on activities that are happening when nobody else is looking. It’s nice to have neighbors watching out for the trail.

We were enjoying the conversations. But I kept looking at a bag full of bolts, washers and nuts. I kept looking at the upside down tabletop, waiting for us to attach the legs. The seats fit on the legs. None of it was happening while we were talking.

Local artist Thomas Maher was walking down the path. He stopped to talk to us about having some art along the trail. He makes sculptures out of scrap machinery. I had met him briefly at the inaugural meeting of the new Sweet Owen Arts Commission. We agreed that art along the trail would be fantastic. He promised to send me photos of samples (which he emailed me, and they look great).

Tony Craig from the Owen County Community Foundation walked by. We see him on the trail regularly. This time he was not going to get a free pass. We recruited him to help us load one of the tables for transport. The tables are very heavy, and the extra set of hands was appreciated.

When Darrell and I finally assembled that last table and carried it to its spot, we started laughing. We agreed we could have finished the job a lot faster if all those people hadn’t been interrupting us. We were chuckling about those people getting in our way while we were trying to make something for people.

It is moments like that when you start to really get a feeling for the importance of a community trail like MYPath. We didn’t send invitations to the community to come watch a couple guys put picnic tables together. We just happened to be there at the same time several members of the community chose to use this new resource. And it was a friendly atmosphere where we could just chat.

Darrell and I decided that all the chatting delayed our project completion by about an hour. And we enjoyed every minute of it.

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Kyle Hannon is the project manager for the MYPath Trail System. He has served in many community development and trail connection roles throughout the state. On many weekends, he serves as an interpretive specialist at McCormick’s Creek State Park.