Get Walking on the Trail

Be Friendly on the Trail, eh! Earl Plato
Time for a look back at the evolution of Fort Erie’s Friendship Trail - to motorize or not, that was the question years ago. As for me and my friends we wanted a pedestrian trail with bikers and inline skaters exclusively. Here is a actual scenario about paved trails. Ray Willwerth and I walked with octogenarian John Lessle seven springs ago. John had walked Marcy Woods trails for well over sixty years. That’s where I met him first. John wanted us to see his paved trail in western New York. One day we picked up John and headed west to Werhle Drive. We were a few miles from Eastern Hills Mall.. We drove to a parking lot where they made pacemakers. Behind the factory were nature trails that John often walked on. Remember we are now out in a rural area. We followed the path into the woods until we came to a paved trail. Remember this occasion was before the concept of our own local pedestrian Friendship Trail. Paved? As far as we could see stretched a 20 foot wide paved trail. “The old New York Central went through here,” John said. “Too bad though. It’s a raceway for bikes, big bikes, Harleys and the like. Hikers don’t come out here on the weekend - too dangerous. In the winter time it’s snowmobiles. They travel fast too. There’s no police monitoring as far as I know. The machines rule. That’s why we parked where we did. As of 2005 things have not changed on the western New York Trail. Sad for pedestrians, eh. John Lessle didn’t mention the thundering hooves of horses. What could have been a great nature walk in a peaceful setting might never be realized. That was several years ago.. I wonder if those Western New Yorkers who love the peace of the great outdoors were ever heard. No, at last contact with our American relatives in 2007 it’s still a motor/horse runway. Here in Fort Erie we will have horses on the Trail from Gorham Road to Halloway Bay Road. What? Separate trails that is. I like to see riders on horseback but not on a pedestrian trail. Hope it works out for all involved. See you on the Friendship Trail in 2008. You can park at Crescent Park or in Ridgeway and walk a section or more come spring. Remember to be friendly. That’s what it’s all about.