{"id":14783,"date":"2023-12-20T10:24:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/?p=14783"},"modified":"2023-12-20T10:24:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:24:46","slug":"a-walk-in-the-woods-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogisden.us\/?p=14783","title":{"rendered":"A Walk in the Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week it rained for a whole day or two then it got cold. Turkey Mountain was closed to bikers but open for hikers. So off I went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As usual I traversed a combination of legacy trails and new trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new trails, thanks to their water shedding design were not muddy at all. By now the trails are very hard packed almost like pavement. The old trails were okay but a bit muddy at times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is amazing. There are no guards at the trails or rangers or anything and yet the bikers stayed away. I think most of the users are invested in the trails now and comply with the requests to stay off after rains. Bikers especially turn out huge for the trail work days and really buy into keeping the sustainable trails in good shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So on my hike I only saw a few other people, all of them hikers. No bikers nor signs of bikers at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I love trees in the wintertime. We get to see their bones and the results of them stretching up to the sky to get some sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also love seeing the dead wood in the woods. You couldn’t buy a sculpture like this at any price. Turkey Mountain is an old growth forest. They don’t cut down old snags and they don’t clear the woods of them either. Sure they have done a little bit of controlled burns and mulching and their clear trails of fallen limbs and trees but they just push the wood off to the side of the trail. Dead trees make great habitat for all sorts of little critters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I love the rocks on Turkey Mountain. Above is from a large outcropping called Rock City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My boots got a little muddy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And I had a great time. All by myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind of reminds me of a line from Mary Oliver’s “How I Go to the Woods”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three plus miles at my own pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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