WALK ONE - Introduction

 

WALK ONE 

 

 

Introduction:

Location – Trails across street from my house.

I have not traveled these trails in over a year. I used to walk them daily but the access trail crossed a property that had gone up for sale and a buyer doing his due diligence (more like due damage) obliterated the trail with a backhoe. A different and much more conscientious buyer ended up with the property and is restoring the trail.

 

Initially the trail seemed foreign. Over the past several years our area has suffered from an infestation of gypsy moth caterpillars that killed many of the oaks in our woods resulting in open canopy where there used to be shade. The understory has taken full advantage and areas of the forest floor that were open are now a bit jungley and disorienting. But about one third of the way through the walk I began to settle in and feel more at home on these trails that once felt like mine.

 

 

 

Walk One:

Tuesday September 22 4:00ish

Blue skies, a touch windy and cool. 59 degrees.

 

Sites – (Familiar) The huge lichen covered boulders that the trail designer made sure to include on the route. The beaver pond (but now more obscured), the mossy root bases of some of the older trees, the warn spots on the mossy mid trail rocks (although now the worn spots are bigger), the sparkling lights on the leaves of the understory…

 

(New) Downed trees, stick cluttered paths, the open canopy

 

Smells – The earth, saw dust, crisp air.

Sounds – Few birds but katydids were starting up for the evening. Rodents and likely a deer scurrying. Some car noise and at some point, a very distant human voice. The varying sound of my steps and my arm movement rubbing against my jacket.

 

Sensations -  Anxiety with the unfamiliar, a chill on my face and hands, the feel  of the roots and rocks through my thin-soled boots, joy with the familiar.

 

The most striking experience on this walk was the transition from a state of anxiety (fueled by the changes in the ownership and physical state of the trail and The possible issues of trespassing) to a state of joy at being back on the mostly familiar and comforting paths.