Blue Sky Lake: Single Track Fun...Offield Family Nature Preserve

Friday, September 30, 2016

Single Track Fun...Offield Family Nature Preserve

While traveling by bike allows you to cover a lot of territory in a short amount of time, it can also leave you breathless, unable to take in all of the sights of the natural world whizzing by. This was the case last Sunday as my husband and me soared through the Offield Family Nature Preserve along well maintained paths. We were the only ones in the park so the beauty of the place was able to speak loudly, reminding us that peace of mind is arrived at best while out in the wilds. Every turn brought new challenges, either a hill to climb or descend or a decision regarding what path next to follow through the woods.

I was happy to see that the understory of the forest was not clogged with non-natives, obscuring the view through the woods, thus allowing one to gaze deeply through many layers of trees, letting thoughts expand and feel free versus feeling constricted and tense. Opening me up to notice that the beauty of the earth is all I need to bring me happiness.

What a beautiful way to spend a Sunday! This nature preserve is truly a wonderful place, whether hiked, biked or skied and I look forward to wrapping myself in it regularly.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About This Blog...

Desiring to discover a Sense of Place by connecting with myself and nature in northern Michigan's Emmet County. In indigenous societies, the individual and place have no separate identity because they define one another. In North America, we view ourselves as separate from our land. Knowing our place is not important because we move on and away and distract ourselves with our creature comforts. But Sense of Place is important. Knowing our land, our natural communities, brings about a connection with ourselves that allows us to care for the environment which sustains us. Knowing the natural world begs us to try and better understand the mysteries that lie at the heart of nature. For knowing nature allows us to know ourselves as we are a part of and interdependent on the wild natural world we see outside our windows. Why, do I feel most at home in a wooded area? Is it because I was raised in the woodlands of Michigan or more because trees provide a protective canopy, softening the effect of being exposed to the large expanse of sky? Why, when the trees lie bare in the winter do we tend to curl up in introspection, ourselves feeling exposed?

In this fast paced world without connection, I wish to figure out how to connect. To soothe that longing within myself. Something is missing in our world. Why else would we continue to destroy that which supports us? That which gives unconditionally? There has to be more to this world than what gets blasted across our TV screens at night. We need to find purpose in our lives. Something to give us meaning. Something to live for and care about. The trees I look out across, at a nature preserve near my home signify a beauty that can be found in few other places. Man can’t recreate these kind of vistas. Our lines are too rigid. Our expectations for cleanliness wipes away the messy edges of nature. We can’t make the sun glint on our creations the same way the sun shines on the leaves of a forest, invoking something that pulls at us. Calling us home to a place left long ago. I want to go there, to listen to the voice of nature and escape from the man made world. I want to stride between the branches of the aspens and beech and discover what lies there. I don’t think it can be found by walking quickly down a trail but can be found along the path, stopping to observe and know. What lessons are in store as I search for a Sense of Place here in my home?