Make trips to parks easy with website
Before the era of social distancing and government edicts to shelter in place, a walk in the park was as easy as, you know, a walk in the park.
These days, not so much. Which is why a regional open space alliance has put together an entire website devoted to the goal of — hashtag, please — #LoveYourParks6feetApart.
Part encouragement, part resource, and very much a product of these cautionary times, www.bayareaoutdoors.org debuted this week. The aim is to create a site where people can get all the information they need on what their local park district offers — coupled with suggestions on how to make such outings as stressfree as possible.
Some pointers are timeless, such as “Exercise! Walk, hike, run, bike.” Others reflect the tensions sparked by people descending on some prime spaces that have been closed for fear of spreading the coronavirus because of tooclose and toocasual contact.
“Be prepared with a Plan B park if your Plan A park is crowded,” is one tip in the list of 16
bullet points. At the very least, “Park only in designated parking lots. If they are full, wait for a spot to open up.”
There are links to park districts in all nine Bay Area counties. Another set of links directs you to each county’s COVID19 resource page — a convenient spot to try and make sense of what seems to be a constantly shifting set of rules.
“Restrictions are different for each park or preserve,” cautions one bullet point. “Please check before you go.”
The website was put together and is managed by Together Bay Area, the successor to the Bay Area Open Space Council. Funding was provided by the Peninsula Open Space Trust.
“We’re trying to respond to the moment,” said Annie Burke, executive director of Together Bay Area. As for the mix of districtscale links and punchy reminders, “the site needs to work for public agencies, but also for people who just want to go into the parks.”
And if the idea of meticulously plotting a walk in the park seems exhausting, one bullet point offers a hint on how to chill out once you are on the scene.
“Sit in designated areas to read, write, listen to music, draw,” we’re told. “Relax!”