Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Sunday I was out for my morning walk after church and started thinking about this walking business and how much I have come to enjoy it.

My basic walk is 3.6 miles from our house in NE Glenwood down to Barsness Park, around the park road and pathway to the city beach, then along the shoreline to where Minnesota Avenue connects with Lake Minnewaska, then over 4th Street to Highway 28-29 where I catch the sidewalk by the fairgrounds and follow that up to 3rd Street and back home.

Sometimes I’ll add a couple of different loops through the trails in Barsness Park with one adjustment bringing the total 4.6 miles and another 5.3.

You’d probably think this would get boring, same route every walk. It really doesn’t because every day is different. Some days I see familiar people and we might chat for a few minutes. Some days I see people and it is just a “hi” as we pass along the street or trail.

The seasons of the year make a difference as well. Right now the colors of the trees in the park are wonderful. Sunday the coots were in Lake Minnewaska but the loons were gone.

That reminded me about the geese who have also left. Every year several pairs of geese nest somewhere along the lakeshore. In the spring one sees their flocks of goslings and over a couple of months they grow up into full size geese. So that is a little different every day. They seem to be at various places along the lakeshore different days.

Not all is fun with them. Sometimes they hog the trail and I walk around. Sometimes I just stay on the trail and the geese scatter although the parents keep a close eye on me and may squawk and let me know they are watching and will protect their young from me.

Geese aren’t the cleanest of creatures and litter the path with their droppings. I’m sure more than a few yards along Lakeshore Drive get a dose of droppings as well. Since I don’t have to deal with that I can enjoy the geese!

Every day the route has some different features. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes just right and sometimes cold. The wind can come from many different directions. Sometimes there is open water, sometimes just ice. Whether there is water or ice there is activity on the lake and that is different with just about every walk.

In late fall and early spring most of the boats are fishermen, it’s too cold for other water activities. In summer there are pontoons, kayaks, canoes, fishermen and boats touring or pulling people on various floating devices or water skis. The parking lot by the beach has vehicles there just about any time of the year. Sometimes it is people parked and looking at their phones, in warmer weather it is people watching kids in the water or sitting in or near the water themselves.

In the winter there are people moving ice houses, roaring around the lake on snowmobiles or 4-wheelers, even a bicycle or two can be seen some days. And then there are the folks trying to get ice houses on or off the lake, getting over the ice humps or snow and plowing through the water on the ice in the spring.

Every day there is something different so the walk doesn’t get boring at all.

It is nice to have so many walking path options in Glenwood. The sidewalks from the 2018 street project are great as are the trails in Barsness Park and the pathways from downtown to the park.

I have noticed since COVID that more people are walking on a regular basis. In the winter the trails in Barsness Park are full of footprints after every snowfall, so many that the trails are passable all winter long without any special trail grooming.

With the golf season coming to an end I’ll be on my route more often during the week. Maybe I’ll see you on the way!

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The walnut harvest continues. As of this writing I’ve collected 209 gallons of black walnuts.