What does Thoreau convey with the description of the path to the pond?

Thoreau writes about the natural qualities of the path as opposed to the man made concrete jungle. Where the city is hard and grey, the path is green and supple. These is something very organic about his path that appeals to the mind and spirit,

“I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!”

― Henry David Thoreau