The Golden Spike National Historic Site is hosting a get outdoors day on June 13, where visitors can follow a ranger on an eight-mile bike tour.
The purpose is to encourage people to get outdoors and explore. David Kilton, the ranger leading the tour, said this is important in a world filled with technology, where people experience nature through computers and tablets.
“We have to have kind of a balance and have some of that technological connections with the sites,” Kilton said. “But there’s something to say about going out and seeing these sites and just in experiencing it with your own eyes, your own ears and just the feeling with connecting with those sites.”
Kilton said a bike tour has its disadvantages because visitors have to bring their own bikes and helmets.
“But you can actually experience four miles of the grade with the ranger connecting you with the different resources you’re gonna see on that, and see a lot more than you would just on a walk,” he said. “In about an hour, hour and a half time, you’re gonna see a lot of things.”
The bike tour isn’t the only thing happening that day. A volunteer cast will put on a reenactment of the Last Spike Ceremony at 11 a.m. and the staff will do handcar rides.
Kilton said there is a limit to how many he can take on the tour, and those who wish to go should contact the Golden Spike National Historic Site.