GIG HARBOR, Wash. — A new system of trail markers now dot Cushman Trail in Gig Harbor. Sitting a half-mile apart along the popular trail and using GPS coordinates, they have solar powered-lights on top of them to let walkers, runners and cyclists using the trail know where they are in case they have to call for police or medical help.
“I think it’s helpful, especially as a female,” said Ashley Ruiz, who was walking the trail with her daughter Tuesday.
It can be tough to know where you are on the trail which is 6.2 miles long, running north to south through Gig Harbor and almost parallel to State Route 16. Now, markers follow the trail along its entire path.
“And that corresponds with a map that all of our emergency responders have so the folks that need to get out here can most efficiently and quickly get to the site exactly where the person is on the trail,” said Gig Harbor Parks manager Nicole Jones-Vogel.
There have been assaults along the trail in the past. In August 2015, a woman walking with her children was followed then grabbed by a man she saw jogging along the trail.
In October of last year, a man groped a woman as she was on an early-morning jog. No arrests were made in either case.
Jones-Vogel said the plan is to eventually have markers every eighth of a mile so one is always in sight.
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