A 2.6 mile walk home from work may not seem like a huge commute for seasoned urban hikers, but for someone recovering from an injury sustained less than a year ago, the distance is a challenge not taken lightly. And the walk home, that was after being on his feet all day while performing his job. Joseph Wilker works at Deseret Industries where before his injury he once clocked seven miles on a pedometer during one of his shifts. He’s only attempted the above commute once, “to see how long it would take,” as Joseph normally rides the 850 State Street to Provo Station, then walks the remaining half mile to his home, not far from Town Center Mall.
Sitting in the lunchroom at his workplace Joseph tells me that he’s made a serious commitment to improving his health and that he started back in October of 2021 by adding 15 seconds a day to his walking. “I try to walk an hour a day in addition to my job.” He has since “built up from two minutes to two hours a day,” walking around the Mall and to the grocery store, besides his commute home. Joseph even participates in the “5K Run / Walk from Provo Temple to Provo City Center Temple,” an annual event where he joins thousands of other members of his church.
In April of 2022 Joseph was having problems with his left knee, his leg was “frozen straight, so walking is part of [his] recovery and rehabilitation.” His knee is healing, but there is still much work to do before he’s back to par and I could at times see this in his gait. Joseph has also been diagnosed as having diabetes, which he hopes to control by losing some weight and this is where walking also plays a role in his overall health and well being. Chatting with Joseph gives me the feeling his health has already greatly improved, and I’m amazed at the amount of activity he undertakes on a daily basis. And this he does, even though he owns an automobile.
On State Street, adjacent to Deseret Industries, there’s a crosswalk that Joseph finds troubling. There are times he needs to cross that busy street while walking to the 2230 UVX Station, and the beg button is located nearly four feet west of the sidewalk. When the snow piles up from accumulation and after clearing the sidewalk it makes for a difficult stretch to reach that beg button, especially for anyone dealing with physical limitations. Joseph has fallen attempting it.
After our interview, a coworker of Joseph’s suggests another route, albeit a bit longer, and since Joseph had finished his shift, the three of us walk the Provo River Parkway to the UVX station a mile away. It’s a beautiful, sunny and warmer winter day. Joseph is enjoying this new route along the river, he appreciates his coworker’s idea, and continues to chat with me about his commutes home. He wishes drivers would be much more sympathetic to pedestrians; “if you were on the streets walking like I do, you’d know how I feel,” Joseph expresses to us calmly and with a feeling of compassion for all those other Provo walkers.
