Walking Seasonal Roads: Reflections on a Dwelling Place

10. Happy Trails: Bocek Road

91 10 Happy Trails Bocek Road Silk threads bind the bush A master weaver in motion Web half woven hangs Spiderwebs on a damp morning turn the woods into cut-glass crystal. The dew that collects on the silky threads transforms the fly-traps into textured glass, and I think of my grandmother’s old sugar bowls. We walk Bocek when we feel the need for deep woods, because the road runs entirely through a dense forest of oaks, hickories, maples, and beeches. The woods offer a vegetable garden of colors. In spring, the foliage is celery green; in summer, it deepens to kale green. In autumn, the yellow-orange of sweet potatoes and butternut squash reign; in winter, the woods turn potato white, burnt and brown skinned. All along the road, signs read “Wildlife Refuge,” marking the land as belonging to the Bocek family. I am unsure what “Wildlife Refuge” means precisely, but I would like to think it means a place of shelter and safety for wildlife. Almost everywhere we walk, private land is posted with signs that say “Private: No Hunting , No Fishing, No Trespassing”—always “No Something”—but this sign explains why. It says “Wildlife Refuge,” implying that the reason for no hunting, fishing, or trespassing is to protect the wildlife. While any landowner can establish a private park Happy Trails | 93 to protect wildlife by publishing a notice that it will be used as such (New York State Consolidated Laws 2008, U.S. Department of Agriculture 2011), what that means in terms of the actual treatment of wildlife is not always clear. Many private refuges have been established for hunting and hardly protect but rather keep out other hunters who do not belong to the club. A few miles east of Bocek, a sanctuary of a different type lies cradled in the farmland hills. The place is called Farm Sanctuary , and it offers safe haven for mistreated farm animals. Founder Gene Baur (2008) describes it as home to sheep, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and just about every other kind of farm animal. It is in keeping with New York’s long and admirable history of animal protection. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Humane Society of the United States have roots in this state (Unti 2004). From well-known animal sanctuaries, like the Catskill Sanctuary founded by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (Stevens 2009), to the small local private shelters, like A Voice for All Animals/Second Chance Ranch in Wellsburg (Kingsley 2009) run by Linda Reichel, New York has thousands of animal shelters, sanctuaries, and places of refuge for pets, farm animals, and wildlife. There is something comforting about living in a state that has so many safe places for animals. The Finger Lakes Trail runs along Bocek for some distance then veers off downhill on an abandoned road called Sutryck toward Birdseye Hollow. The trail signs, two walkers with sticks, give me a sense of joy just as the “Wildlife Refuge” signs do. The trail is not an animal sanctuary or any sort of refuge in the truest sense, but it is a place put aside for walkers and provides access to the natural world. This remarkable footpath stretches across the southern tier of New York from Allegany State Park to the Catskill Forest Preserve (Finger Lakes Trail 2011), and has more than 560 miles of main trail with numerous branches and loops covering more than 950 miles. Founder Wallace D. Wood, known as Wally, 94 | Walking Seasonal Roads and his trail friends held the first trail conference in 1962 and since that time, many extensions and improvements have been made (Treichler 1990). Today it is ranked as one of the finest trail systems in the United States. Jean Rezelman (1990) recounts some of the early work on the trail. She writes about the crew’s scouting adventures, of finding an ancient black walnut tree that was part of one crew member’s girlhood home, and of getting lost and “crawling on hands and knees under the brush” on a deer path. She describes getting permission from landowners and all the organizations required to maintain the trail. Over the years, many individuals and groups like the Alley Cat Crew have worked on the trail creating a place that is safe and accessible and feels like wilderness. It is clearly a natural space that is cared for...