Ethics professor and President of the Seminary of the Southwest, Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, loves to ask, “What is a thing’s telos? To what end was it created?” These questions help cut through the secondary functions of everything from sporks to the United Nations, and get to their essence. In the case of trails, their telos is connection.
Therefore, it is especially fitting to name a trail something like Limestone Link, the newest trail in San Marcos. Dedicated back in April, this one-mileish stretch of converted ranch land connects the River Recharge trail system to the Ringtail Ridge trail system. But it connects more than landscapes; it connects cultures and generations.
My family recently hiked the Death Canyon Trail to Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park, where I noticed a vast diversity of hiking companions: the French family with the special needs teenager, the dirtbag trail runners lean like living jerky, the Wyoming locals in jeans and hoodies and a myriad of families from Ohio, North Carolina, British Columbia, Beijing and San Marcos. We talked to them all, and we connected with them all on the trail.
