"Golden 19" patches coming up!

At an upcoming meeting, the girls will receive "Golden 19" patches, which are worn by many local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. The patch is below. It should be affixed to the back of their tunic.

The patch was created by Acton resident Pete Jones: (It's available to anyone, not just scouts.)

Each of the 15 abbreviations on the patch stands for one yellow-blazed trail on Acton conservation land. This is a key to the abbreviations (click to enlarge):



When you complete each trail, you color-in the appropriate slice with a yellow highlighter. The hikes are  from between one-half mile to two and one-half miles long. When you've completed all of them, you've hiked just over 19 miles in Acton.

This is a clickable map of Acton conservation land, that shows a trail map for each conservation area: http://www.actontrails.org/CasD.htm. There is also a great trail guide available at the Acton Town Hall (call to verify it's still available) for all of these trails. It's $10, with a spiral binding and a handy size; it describes each conservation area and its trails, the difficulty of the trails, how to find your way around, and any history of the land. (The book is worth the price, for just the local history.)

If you haven't tried hiking these local trails, we highly recommend it -- you'll be surprised you're so close to "civilization" and enriched by the natural beauty just minutes from daily life. The kids love it! And take the dog, too -- on-leash.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at DaisiesRGreat@gmail.com.

For more information on the Golden 19 patches, visit their Web pages at Hike the Golden 19.