4) Trail Walking: 

“I had not lived there a week: I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct.  It is true, I fear that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open.  The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels.” 

Thoreau wrote of this trail in Walden, and he used it just as I did on this day, to walk around the pond, for exercise, to find peace in solitude, or to observe the wildlife living in the ecosystem near his home.  I find it incredible to think that this trail has been maintained for 150 years.  Surely this care is a testament to the preservation work maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management to keep the trail conservative in size, erosion levels monitored, and generally undisturbed despite human use.  The air was crisp that afternoon and the sun vibrant as it enhanced the browns, yellows, and reds of the remaining autumn leaves

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