This past weekend, I
discovered that I'd been driving the long way around to get to the
nearby Strouds Run State Park. Taking the shortcut means I hit park
property only 2.1 miles from our house, and in double that distance we
achieve the scenic (if man-made) Dow Lake. Inspired by the close
proximity, I tried out not one new trail this week but two.
In addition to ambling
along the Lakeview Trail, I also enjoyed Beaver Pond Trail...which ends
in this flat, open area where a pond probably stood only a couple of
years before. The walk was a lesson in impermanence --- how human to
name a trail after something that can disappear based on a whim of the
weather combined with a critter's unpredictable brain. Is this a bit
like giving directions based on "that old store that used to be owned
by the Joneses back in 1977"?
Despite the minor
disappointment of finding no beaver or pond on Beaver Pond Trail, I
thoroughly enjoyed the walk. Because the setting was a broad floodplain
with clay-lined streams exactly like the one we moved away from. Now I
know where to go if I ever get homesick!