Fear on The Trail
On Wednesday, January 23, 2008, my dog, Mei Ling and I went out to the Autry Mill Preserve for a short hike and a look at the family of monkeys on the Forest trail.
We sat at a picnic table and ate our Taco Bell lunch before starting on the trail.
The only other people around were a lady and young son who appeared to be waiting for someone at the restroom, some 50 yards away from us. Soon another young [7 to 9 years] boy came out and joined the mother as they went to the beginning of the trail where they stopped to read the items on the bulletin board. Their actions indicated that they were new to the park.
I continued eating as they walked toward the parking area, apparently planning to forego the trail. I spoke and asked if they had seen the monkeys on the trail. Surprised at the mention of monkeys the lady asked if there were monkeys, like at a zoo?
They were close enough that I could talk easily, and I briefly explained the story of the circus train wreck, escape of the monkeys, etc and the creation of concrete replacements on the trail by an unnamed man. They started walking toward their car. I asked if they were going to leave without seeing the monkeys?
At this point I realized the lady might be fearful of going down the trail with no one around but me. Never in my life have I felt that someone feared being near me.
I hesitated to urge them to go on the trail. That would just make matters worse. Neither did I say anything to try to convince her I was harmless.
She explained that she needed to go somewhere and would see the monkeys later.
They went to their car and left the park.
Mei Ling and I walked down the trail to visit the monkeys, who seemed happy to see us, but kept silent, we didn’t talk about it, but I could not help but think of the apparent feeling of fear at the park and how it deprived those young boys of the pleasure of seeing the family of concrete monkeys. I certainly hope they went back later.
I am assuming that the mother was fearful of going on the trail because of the recent tragic death of the young hiker in the Vogel State Park. Certainly she is to be commended for taking care to protect herself and her children. She could be justified in seeing me as another Hilton fellow, just waiting to accompany her on a friendly walk and then killing the three of them.
The sad part of it is the fact of justifiable fear that restrains people from enjoying the trails of our parks. Certainly all hikers should be alert and very careful when they go on a trail. In addition to the usual, natural hazards of the woods and streams there are the people of warped minds who must be avoided.
The ‘how’ of avoiding the dangers of the bad persons on hiking trails has suddenly become an important issue of life and death. It is not sufficient to tell hikers to stay off the trails.
In Montgomery, Alabama a former Boy Scout, Robert Mullen, is working on a Hiker’s Manual inspired by news reports of persons being lost or murdered on trails during the recent past. I hope the manual will deal adequately with hiking safety issues as well as the problems associated with hikers trail fears.
Jerry Clements 1/24/08
We sat at a picnic table and ate our Taco Bell lunch before starting on the trail.
The only other people around were a lady and young son who appeared to be waiting for someone at the restroom, some 50 yards away from us. Soon another young [7 to 9 years] boy came out and joined the mother as they went to the beginning of the trail where they stopped to read the items on the bulletin board. Their actions indicated that they were new to the park.
I continued eating as they walked toward the parking area, apparently planning to forego the trail. I spoke and asked if they had seen the monkeys on the trail. Surprised at the mention of monkeys the lady asked if there were monkeys, like at a zoo?
They were close enough that I could talk easily, and I briefly explained the story of the circus train wreck, escape of the monkeys, etc and the creation of concrete replacements on the trail by an unnamed man. They started walking toward their car. I asked if they were going to leave without seeing the monkeys?
At this point I realized the lady might be fearful of going down the trail with no one around but me. Never in my life have I felt that someone feared being near me.
I hesitated to urge them to go on the trail. That would just make matters worse. Neither did I say anything to try to convince her I was harmless.
She explained that she needed to go somewhere and would see the monkeys later.
They went to their car and left the park.
Mei Ling and I walked down the trail to visit the monkeys, who seemed happy to see us, but kept silent, we didn’t talk about it, but I could not help but think of the apparent feeling of fear at the park and how it deprived those young boys of the pleasure of seeing the family of concrete monkeys. I certainly hope they went back later.
I am assuming that the mother was fearful of going on the trail because of the recent tragic death of the young hiker in the Vogel State Park. Certainly she is to be commended for taking care to protect herself and her children. She could be justified in seeing me as another Hilton fellow, just waiting to accompany her on a friendly walk and then killing the three of them.
The sad part of it is the fact of justifiable fear that restrains people from enjoying the trails of our parks. Certainly all hikers should be alert and very careful when they go on a trail. In addition to the usual, natural hazards of the woods and streams there are the people of warped minds who must be avoided.
The ‘how’ of avoiding the dangers of the bad persons on hiking trails has suddenly become an important issue of life and death. It is not sufficient to tell hikers to stay off the trails.
In Montgomery, Alabama a former Boy Scout, Robert Mullen, is working on a Hiker’s Manual inspired by news reports of persons being lost or murdered on trails during the recent past. I hope the manual will deal adequately with hiking safety issues as well as the problems associated with hikers trail fears.
Jerry Clements 1/24/08
posted by Jeremiah | 5:17 PM
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