September is here and maybe you are thinking that it will be harder to find time to get out and walk now that school is starting.
If your children attend Gordon Elementary School, Kingston Middle School, the Options Program, or Kingston High School, or even if you don’t have children in school, you are in luck. It is easy to combine a trip to school with a nice little walk on the trails that connect these four schools.
You can start your walk from any school parking lot and make a loop. We started in the parking lot of Gordon Elementary School.
Exit the school property by following the sidewalk back to Barber Cut-off Road, and walk a short distance along the road shoulder to take the foot-path across the street from Tuckerman Avenue. The trail entrance is marked by the small brown footprint sign and there is room to park two cars here on either side of the sign.
This short stretch of trail crosses Nike Park, which is a small undeveloped park bordering the school district property. The woods are pretty, but could use some human help to clear the invasive ivy that is currently climbing the trees there.
This path brings you out beside the Kingston High School turf field. From here, continue along the school sidewalk to the front entrance of the high school, passing the footbridge at the main entrance to find a trail a short distance past the bridge. This trail leads to Kingston Middle School, passing the My Girl Museum on the right. Please respect the private property signs as the owner has graciously granted pedestrian access on just the trail to the school.
You can loop the KMS school parking lot or take a turn around the middle school track if you want a bit more exercise. Retrace your steps to return, making sure to follow the path along the My Girl Museum fence — not the drive on your right. At the fork, both trails lead back to the KHS entry-bridge. Follow the sidewalk along the school driveway back to the turf field and continue back to Gordon Elementary.
Though these directions may sound a bit complex, you can’t really get too lost on any section of this route, as you are never too far from the schools and civilization. I’d recommend this as a short urban/woodland combo walk. Also remember that if you want to extend your walk or if you’d like some peaceful wildlife viewing, you can find your way to the Carpenter Lake Wildlife Preserve which is located behind Gordon Elementary.
You can find a list of our many local parks and trails on the web site, http://kingston98346.org or on our blog at http://blogs.kingstoncommunitynews.com/trailmix/.
