Latest "Easy Walks" Book Now Available
Aug 27, 2020 06:00AM ● By Pamela Johnson
As the Covid-19 pandemic was unfolding, Marjorie Turner Hollman was working hard to finish her book Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. People not familiar with their local trails flocked to the most visible ones, which resulted in unsafe overcrowding, and as a result, the trails became unsafe and were shut down. The need for this book took on a feeling of urgency.
For nearly twenty years, Hollman, a Bellingham resident, has been seeking out easy walks throughout southeastern Massachusetts. The genesis of her trail books began with a monthly column she wrote for the Bellingham Bulletin called “Naturally New England.” Since then she’s written a series of Easy Walks trail guides detailing multiple small and larger trails in the region. She includes helpful information about how to find trail heads, describes trail surfaces and items of interest, indicates where dogs are welcome, and notes how long trails are. Those with mobility issues are her primary readership, but also included are older people, younger parents with small children, and those recovering from recent injury. Hollman has mobility issues herself and writes from personal experience. Totally paralyzed on her right side in her mid-thirties, she has recovered enough mobility to enjoy visiting trails using hiking poles for support.
In Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are, Hollman shares essentials that will make for more positive outdoor trail experiences. Besides where to find easy salks, Hollman offers readers ways to locate these places, using such tools as USGS maps, road maps, and even Google Earth. After deciding where you want to go, look in the book for additional advice about what to bring or wear that will make the difference between having a positive outdoor experience and one that convinces you never to set foot on a trail again! It takes cooperation to help keep each other safe on trails, and Hollman’s trail etiquette chapter, as well as cautions about weather, poison ivy, ticks, and wearing blaze orange during hunting season. These and others are good reminders for the experienced trail visitor and great pointers for the novice.
There’s a lot packed into this 124-page book, which is available at Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989204375. As Hollman affirms on the back cover of the book, “Regardless of your challenges, the outdoors is not off limits.”
