There is a closet I've been inching my way out of for a few years now, and perhaps the time has come to throw caution to the winds and come out full bore. Judgment be damned.
First, let me bring you up to speed. Two minutes from my house is the Putney Central School, which comes complete with a 176-acre forest. How many public schools do you know with such a resource?
For years, I walked its few trails alone, rarely running into other people. That changed when the intimidating log-and-slat bridge across Sacketts Brook was washed away in a hurricane more than 12 years ago.
The town replaced it with dual steel girders that supported an elaborate wooden structure that struck me at first as massive overkill. They also put a sign with an arrow on the road saying “Central School Forest Trails.”...