It is the nature of nature to grow back and make paths, or maybe sentier disappear away. I see this everywhere is Arizona, in wilderness especially. The Forest Service has had its funding cut back gradually over decades now, a political issue. There are things that are recognizable, where a path used to follow. I look for these when the path/trail fades. It is also true that many paths started up the same way, as animal paths and became trails and are still called trails. The expression, "Out on the trail" is a broad thing. A trail can be any type of route. A trail can be a cow, or animal path that man has adopted. A trail can be...well, the street that I live on is called a "Trail." It is rural and unpaved. "Old Spainish Trail is on the southeast side of the Tucson VAlley. In history, it was once that, but now is paved and in some places with multi-lanes. The "Arizona Trail" is sometimes a forest service road, but a couple of weeks ago, we we're walking along an overgrown, rocky path that was a piece of it.
In this week's post on my website about the waterfalls, we had to walk what I would call a trail, or a path. I was walking over slabs of exposed bedrock, to find a spot where the ground of grass and dirt was worn to piece together the "trail." There were also necessary cairns to mark the trail.
All clear as mud.
Jbee
A path can be something in a garden, but it is usually a footpath, a conveyance from a point to another, and relatively thin.
