Many hit Fort Worth trails to ‘maintain their sanity’ during coronavirus shutdown
The day after Tarrant County issued a stay-at-home order to try and curb the spread of coronavirus, bikers, runners and picnic-ers alike were enjoying 80-degree-weather on the Trinity Trails — at a safe distance from one another.
At noon on Wednesday, every bike from the bike-sharing rack at the Clearfork Trailhead was gone. Families chatted near the water station, kids played on the bridge crossing the river, and dogs ran next to their owners on the gravel trail.
“We haven’t been able to go anywhere in two weeks,” Lauren Muckleroy, who stood near the Press Cafe with family friends, said. “We came out to see each from a safe distance.”
“I’m just thankful spring is here,” Muckleroy’s friend Sasha Denman said.
Hailey Minton said as an account manager, she’s working from home near Clearfork and makes sure to go on a run or walk outside during her lunch breaks.
“This is the only time I get out of my apartment,” she said. “This is the most active I’ve probably ever been.”
Minton, who lives with her husband and dog, said people have been respectful of keeping their distance on the trails. When she’s come across a congested area, people move to the other side of the trail.
There are more than 70 miles of trails along the Trinity River where people can walk, run, ride bikes or even ride horses. Multiple launch stations allow people to paddleboard or kayak on the river. With COVID-19 limiting the public places people can go, the plethora of trails have become a space for people to get out of the house.
While some areas such as Trinity Park and the Clearkfork Trailhead can become crowded, other, lesser known paths along the Trinity are better for people who want more solitude or, nowadays, more social distance.
Jamie Erwin and her two kids sat on a picnic blanket in the grass near the trailhead, listening to gospel music and eating out of lunchboxes.
“We really wanted to take advantage of the warm weather, get our exercise in, get outside,” she said.
She said they’ve been minimizing their contact with others, including from her kids’ grandparents, to help “flatten the curve.” Instead, they’ve been Facetiming friends, participating in neighborhood-wide scavenger hunts and waving at friends who drive by to say a quick hello.
“We just saw our friends and I think sadly, the kids are understanding too, they realize they can’t run up and give hugs like they normally can,” Erwin said. “This is our new normal for now.”
David Lavine was riding his bike along the river Wednesday afternoon. He said by far, this was the most people he had ever seen on the trails in the middle of a weekday.
“They’re maintaining their sanity,” he said.
To occupy his own mind, Lavine said he decided to start biking every day. He rides up to the Trinity River, reads a book or meditates and bikes home for a round-trip of about seven-and-a-half miles.
“I’m gonna see how many miles I can put on my bike before this thing is over,” he said.
He said Tarrant County acted pretty quickly to shut the area down and limit the spread of the virus, and everyone needs to find their own way to keep themselves “from going crazy” during the shutdown.
“A buddy of mine said it’s a local joke that there are gonna be a lot of babies or a lot of divorces when this is over,” he said.
On Wednesday, Tarrant County confirmed 19 new cases of novel coronavirus for a total of 90.
