In Pursuit of Wonder

May 15, 2023

Yesterday, I walked in the woods without my camera. It had been raining off and on all day. I thought about skipping my walk but decided I needed to get out as my mood was darker than the sky. I set out along my usual path, up the gravel road a bit and into the pasture, down the pasture lane, and under multiple fences before reaching the woods. But this time I didn’t turn back to retrace my steps after I had nearly reached the highway. Instead, I climbed the western bluff above the highway. I paused to notice dutchman’s breeches flowers; someone somewhere thought their small white flowers resembled male pantaloons. I was bummed I didn’t have my camera with me to take a picture of them. I ambled down and back up a deep ravine, coming up on an old logging trail on the other side. I tramped along the trail until it curved around the bluff and began heading upwards. I continued westward. Down the slope, nearly slipping in the loose dirt and leaves to a very large and deep rocky ravine. I climbed down the wet rocks to the bottom of the ravine. A slight rain fell. I had been traveling north in the ravine, at its end, I turned westward again, climbing up rocks to the old snowmobile trail. From there, I descended the bluff again, using the trail, taking it to the highway. I turned back to face the woods, wanting to figure out where my niece and I had been last fall. (Read https://bethanybenike.com/2023/04/24/mushroom-hunting-with-my-niece/). It took a couple of false starts to find the ravine we started climbing. Part way up, I was amazed at the challenge of climbing up this ravine, and felt bad for dragging Anne up with me last fall. At least she had fun. It also occurred to me that I shouldn’t have tried this in the rain. I climbed roughly as high as we had last fall and then hiked eastward until I found the old snowmobile trail. Anne and I had been one bluff over from the snowmobile trail when we had given up and turned around. My mood had greatly improved with the strenuous trek in the woods. 

Today, I didn’t travel as far as I only had an hour, not two and a half to spend in the woods. This time I had my camera. The woods are a vivid green. The underbrush is beginning to thicken. The garlic mustard is in bloom. I paused to smell and enjoy the purple blossoms of creeping Charlie plants. Bees hummed around them gathering nectar and pollen. The ferns were tall and full grown. The umbrella leaves of the mayapples are fully erect. I traversed the many small gullies, walked on top of several logs and climbed up the steep slope. Every time I spotted a jack in the pulpit plant, I stopped to enjoy it. I found a couple of different varieties, one was more than waist tall on me and had a red stem. I marveled at this plant. It went a bit further than usual. A log lay across the slope, bathed in morning sunlight, host to many dryad’s saddle mushrooms. Absolutely stunning. I didn’t have a bag or knife with me, so I will go back for them later. I headed further up the slope and followed a deer trail along the top edge of the woods for a ways. Then I crawled under the fence to the pasture. I ambled across the pasture to another fence. This one I had to belly crawl under. In the hay field, off in the distance, I heard turkeys. Then I spotted them. They had already seen me and were trotting to the pasture and woods. I cut as straight as a path through the fields back to the house as I could.

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