Good Trail Etiquette Has Never Been More Essential Than It Is Right Now.

Published April 9th, 2020 by Donkadmin

Good Trail Etiquette Has Never Been More Essential Than It Is Right Now.

Amy Kapp serves as editor-in-chief of Rails to Trails magazine. Kapp frequently writes about the impact of, and vast historical and cultural connections made by, America's rail-trails, parks and public lands.

Posted 04/02/20 by Amy Kapp in Trail Use, Health and Wellness

Minuteman Commuter Bikeway | Courtesy Friends of Lexington Bikeways

Right now, at least 261 million Americans are on orders to shelter-in-place or stay-at-home. The entire country is looking for ways to slow the spread of COVID-19, so extreme social distancing is in effect—meaning that we need to stay at home and leave our houses only for essential work and activities. For millions of people, this also includes outdoor exercise, as long as they maintain a 6-foot distance from others and avoid group activity.

The search for safe ways to maintain wellness has led many people to outdoor places like parks and trails where they can walk, bike and be active. Resulting surges in trail use, recorded across the country last week, have put significant pressure on the nation’s trail system, forcing many local elected officials and trail managers to close parks and trails, and limit facilities and services, to enforce social distancing measures.

“We all need to follow the rules set by our local governments to keep ourselves and each other healthy and to keep our local trails open.”

—Brandi Horton, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Where trails are open—especially in areas where parks and other outdoor recreation facilities have closed—there has been an influx of new users and recognition that safe use and trail etiquette have never been so vital to the health of our nation.

“These activities make it clear that we’ve never needed our parks and public space as desperately as we do right now. But because it’s so hard to be social and practice social distancing at the same time, it’s going to take mindful behavior modification to adjust to the new reality,” wrote Inga Saffron in a March 23 Philadelphia Inquirer column.

Share the Trail “Practice Safe Social Distancing on the Trail" banner in English | Download High Res

So what does this mean right now?

“It’s about using good judgment on where and when we get our exercise outdoors, and how we engage—in a safe distance—with other trail users. We all need to follow the rules set by our local governments to keep ourselves and each other healthy and to keep our local trails open,” said Brandi Horton, spokesperson for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC). “In this ‘new normal’ that may be upon us for some time, the way we share the trail with each other, and keep our distance, will go hand in hand.”