Next it’s into Glen Park Canyon where we pass a trail named after the Gum Tree Girls, three women — activists and young mothers — who banded together in 1965 and fought to stop a freeway from cutting through the canyon.
Crosstown Trail: Glen Park Canyon
An experiment based on an article from the New York Times.
Next it’s into Glen Park Canyon where we pass a trail named after the Gum Tree Girls, three women — activists and young mothers — who banded together in 1965 and fought to stop a freeway from cutting through the canyon.
The trail winds through Glen Canyon Park, where a group known as the Gum Tree Girls helped prevent a freeway from cutting through the area.
The name was given to them by the city engineer and intended to be derisive, but they reclaimed it.
“The Hell It Is!” became one of their rallying cries, as recorded in an oral history of the movement, and they engaged in acts of civil disobedience, like confiscating construction signs.
And, after 12 years battling that freeway, they won. It was never built, and the canyon is a gem of a park, for kids, joggers, even rock climbers.
This portion of what is now the Crosstown Trail used to dead end within Glen Park. But a teacher named Tom Dallman and his students slowly hacked a trail through, despite opposition from neighbors who wanted to keep the park more private. Thanks to them, we walk easily north, and into the next leg.