What was your Favorite Walk in Salem this Year?

So much rain and gloom. I know we need the rain - if not exactly the gloom.

To dispel the gloom, partly anyway, it is consoling to think about pleasant walks in fair weather earlier this year.

Late this summer on a long weekend ramble, you might say even a hike, an out-of-town guest curious about the Fairview project spotted a hops bine on the side of the road. It was a little past its prime, the cones dried out and open but still fragrant.

Hops at the former Fairview site

An abandoned Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places did not discuss any hop growing at the farm.

No hops, in a National Register Nomination

A different historical assessment of the Fairview property didn't turn up anything either, nor a brief newspaper search. We hoped the hops might be a survival from early or even mid-century farming, but more likely it was just a volunteer.

Later we passed a garden with some cultivated hops that had already been harvested.

Thompsons in 1965 (Salem Library Historic Photos)

So it seemed natural to toast the harvest and find refreshment with a fresh hop ale near the end of the walk.

There were of course other small pleasures on the way, and between the terrific company and the unexpected hops it just went to another level. 

It was the best walk of the year so far, and it's hard to see anything in the next two months overtaking it.

What was your best walk in the Salem area?

Aside from in Salem, I mean that generously. There are all kinds of walks in town!

You might recall the Project Walk.

Walking all the streets (2021)

Or the History Walk in June of this year and the ongoing Appointment Walks in the "Just Walk" project.

An organized history walk from June

There are many ways to structure a walk. 

So what was your favorite walk inside the city this year? Not a wilderness hike or a walk in distant lands, which of course offer their own delights, but a walk or ramble inside the urbanized area right here?