Cycling Claremont: Thompson Creek Trail

 

I have always liked those trail registries you'll come across on certain trails, opening them up to see where people have come from, the impressions of where they've been and other similar observations. A little while back I wrote about the pad of paper and pen someone had left up at Johnson's Pasture so that visitors could contribute little sketches or notations. This new dry-erase kiosk along the Thompson Creek Trail is similar, and a great idea. Sure the messages or sketches people may leave are necessarily going to be temporary, but it does give pedestrians and riders on the trail a chance to contribute to the experience of the journey by sharing with others who come along afterward. There is something about writing down an observation, or sketching it out, sharing it, that makes an experience more tangible.

It is entirely possible, since I almost never ride the paved portion of the Trail, that these tree id signs have been around for a while, thus I have not had occasion to notice them before. Either way, they're new to me.

I'm a little less convinced about the necessity of the way-finding signs though... Aughhh, I can't help it, I promised myself I wasn't going to, but..."Sign, sign, Everywhere a sign, Blockin' out the scenery, Breakin' my mind..."