The golf course in my way

I have a personal rule of thumb, informed by years of urban wandering, for waterways that goes as follows:

Where there is a significant body of water alongside a significant population of human beings, there must also be a walking path to facilitate human (and canine) enjoyment of nature.

You can imagine my surprise when I attempted to follow the North Shore Channel up to the Baha’i House of Worship, only to find that there were no walking paths. In its place was a lengthy golf course that slithered up both banks of the canal.

I meandered between the grass humps and sand ditches, feeling vaguely as if I was trespassing over private property. There were a few stunted dirt pathways that were dented along the edges as if they were formed by small cart-like vehicles.

The succession of golf holes did take me to the temple, and I am glad for that. At least the entire waterway wasn’t blocked off from the public and could still function as a way finding landmark.

I very much prefer the Skevanston treatment of the North Shore Channel banks. They’ve converted the river shore into a sculpture park, filled with public art, picnic tables, a walking trail and an entirely separate cycling trail. It makes me feel as if I belong there, regardless of what I am doing.

Similarly, the shores of Lake Michigan are lined with public beaches, grassy lawns and joint cycling and pedestrian trails. It follows the lakeside north before sadly looping back at Northwestern University’s recreation centre.

I can’t blame Northwestern University for terminating the walking path. There’s no end to the difficulty of building a pathway over a beach, and a big beach is precisely what abuts them to the north.

Beyond that I am not entirely sure what follows. Maybe it is the private property of a few lucky families with houses that boast Lake Michigan in their backyards. I am not sure if I would call it unfair or selfish for private individuals to own a part of something the vast majority would consider public property. If given the opportunity, I would absolutely jump to own a lakefront house myself, and that would make me a hypocrite.

Looking out the window of the Baha’i temple lounge, I can see a not-inconsequential number of people and dogs traipsing along the golf course. It seems to me that the shoreline gets more use as a walking path than it does as golfing practice.