October 15, 2024

The rail-trail at its (nearly) pristine best.

 

It’s always something!

-Gilda Radner

 

The weather has finally reached a temperature, highs in the low 60s to low 70s, where Waldo and I can go walking any time of the day.  That means that we don’t miss very many days out on the rail trail.  Not only do we get to experience nature’s slow, but inexorable, slide toward winter, we are also exposed to a whole variety of things that happen out there.  There’s the usual squirrel play, bird serenading, insect pestering things going on, but there are sometimes quite unusual events.  The trail is a winding swath of wilderness, but humankind is not far away.

One morning, Waldo and I were just starting out on our walk.  It was a little cool and not at all windy.  The black walnuts and maples gave good shade over the tarmac further down the trail, but we were at the intersection of the trail and Hudson Street, so we were exposed to the early morning sun.  We passed a woman who seemed a bit preoccupied.  I asked here if she was alright and she mumbled something about calling the police because of a woman on a bench.  I looked down the trail and there, in the shade, was a woman sitting on a bench with her head laying low on her chest.  She didn’t seem to be conscious.  About then, a policeman came by.  I identified myself as a retired ER physician and offered to help, if my help was needed (I didn’t want to get in the guy’s way of doing what he needed to do).

We walked up to the bench and it was obvious, after a cursory examination, that the woman had ODed on narcotics.  The cop called for his partner to bring some Narcan and, after a couple of squirts of the stuff up the woman’s nose, her eyes opened.  She was still too far gone to be able to speak, but it was apparent that she would be okay.  An ambulance came by and Waldo and I took our leave.

Another time, this time in the afternoon, Waldo and I were walking along, enjoying a late summer cool breeze wafting through the shade provided by the tall old oaks and birches and we passed a couple who asked if we saw the tent pitched just off the trail near the border of Marlborough and Hudson.  I had not.  Walking past where they said I would find it, I noticed a two-man tent, dark green/gray and easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.  On another afternoon, I just happened to see a young man on a bicycle ride up next to the tent and get off his bike.  I said hello, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk, so I left him to his own devices and Waldo and I went on our way.  That tent has been there for months now.  I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the guy is homeless.  He’s keeping a good campsite with no significant footprint, so I leave him alone.

About a week ago, Waldo and I wewre walking by the construction site, near Fort Meadow Reservoir, where heavy equipment is pushing dirt around to make a new park, and two motor scooters approached us from behind.  They each carried two kids, roughly mid-teens to early-twenties, on them, coming on relentlessly and fast.  That is something I felt I had to take action on because motorized vehicles are prohibited from the trail – they’re too dangerous, especially with all the very young kids that are there, walking, skating, riding bicycles and being pushed in strollers.  So I stood in front of the lead scooter and forced them to stop.  I told them that they needed to leave the trail because motorized vehicles are not allowed.  They ignored me and continued around me and on down the trail.  I called the police and they said they would send a patrol car around.

As we passed people on the trail, I asked them if they saw the scooters.  Everyone said they did, so they were still going down the trail.  I then passed a woman on a bicycle who said she came across them, off their scooters, ransacking the homeless man’s tent.  When I went by the tent, I saw that it was open and a sleeping bag was on the ground outside it.  I felt bad for the homeless guy.  After all the trouble in life he has to deal with, he has to be subjected to that kind of thing too?  It wasn’t right.  Marlborough is very good at responding to things that happen on the trail and really try to keep it a safe place to enjoy the outdoors.  It wasn’t long before the police showed up, but by then the kids and their scooters were long gone.

When these kinds of things happen, Waldo stops and sits, waiting for me to do my thing.  He doesn’t understand what’s going on, but he does understand that he needs to bide his time until I’ve done with what I think I need to do.  Then we’re off again down the trail and he can continue his sniffing.  I think he’s bored by it all, but gives me the space I need.

Generally speaking, the trail provides a path into the real world of Mother Nature secluded from the artificial world of man.

Except sometimes.

 

Homeless man’s camp.

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