Eugene residents are working to put their best foot forward to encourage safety and community on a local hiking trail where a woman reported being attacked by a man in August.
The Wild Iris Ridge Hiking Buddies group on Facebook came to fruition on Sept. 7, nearly two weeks after a man is accused of attacking and raping a woman who was hiking along the Wild Iris Ridge Trail near Bailey and Bertelsen Roads in southwest Eugene.
Joanna Castro describes herself as the catalyst of the Wild Iris Ridge Hiking Buddies group. She told The Register-Guard that the group’s goal is to form a community around the people who relate to the trail and increase the safety of the people who use it.
“The week after the rape, I went hiking and had the sense something was wrong and when I got back, I looked into why I would think that,” Castro said. “Why is it always on the responsibility of the women to change what they’re doing, to make sure they’re safe from men? That doesn’t feel good, you know.”
In a news release on Aug. 28, the police department described the assailant as a man on a bike, in his 30s, with brown hair and a clean-shaven face, wearing darker clothes, jogger pants and a dark hoodie. An investigation was underway.