Every day, a few times a day, I leave the house to walk around in nature. Sometimes I do short walks near the house. Other times, I do longer walks through the woods, walking old stone paths, dirt trails, and white roads.
Occasionally, I follow the white and red markings on trees and rocks, put there to indicate that I’m on a trail that’s maintained by the CAI, the Club Alpino Italiano, the Italian Alpine Club.
Or maybe I follow the white and yellow marks, a sign that I’m walking a trail that’s part of the Natisone Valleys 44 votive churches trail.
There’s also the Alpe Adria Trail passing through here, connecting Italy, Slovenia, and Austria. Or the Peace Trail, tracing the old WW1 front. The list goes on and on and on.
There’s a road right behind my house that I walk every day. It’s an old road (I wrote about it before, in my Owl story) that goes from my house into the woods and up to the nearest village. In the summer, the grass grows fast, and it takes maybe a few weeks for the road to disappear.
But one day, you wake up and the grass has magically been cut, seemingly overnight. The road is there again, ready to be walked.
I know there’s no magic involved here. And this is also not the result of the world-famous efficiency of the Italian government. No, this is the result of the work of someone who lives here, who cares about this place and does a thankless job to keep this corner of the world tidy. And the same is true for all the other trails. Hundreds, probably thousands of volunteers spend their time taking care of all these trails. They make sure they’re walkable, they remove trees and rocks when they inevitably fall down, and they cut the grass when the trails are overgrown. They make sure the markings are visible on the trails to help guide people like me, who enjoy spending their time out in nature.
Most of this work goes unnoticed by the vast majority of people. And it’s a shame. It’s a shame because being able to access nature in this way is a gift. A precious one.
We often take for granted the fact that there are paths and trails that take us virtually anywhere, that stunning places are accessible in such a convenient way. But this is only possible because a group of people care about it enough to dedicate their time to make sure these trails are maintained. And I think it’s worth taking the time to both acknowledge this fact and celebrate these wonderful human beings.
And if, like me, you’re someone who enjoys walking in nature, maybe ask yourself if there’s anything you can do to help and become part of this invisible force for good. Because there will always be something to do, out on the trails: trees will continue to fall, grass will continue to grow, marks will continue to fade. Such is life.
— M