Native voyage

Photo by: Tim Bindner

Saturday morning, I hit the trail for the first time this season. I didn’t know how much I missed it. My legs, however, quickly reminded me.

I woke up around 6 am. Quietly got out of bed so as not to disturb my wife, got dressed, ate breakfast, and waited. I had my gear ready the night before, other than my water. Mark and I agreed he would pick me up at 8 am, and then we headed to O’Bannon Woods State Park.

He arrived a few minutes early. I grabbed my camera, backpack, jacket, kissed Marcie, and headed out to my driveway. The drive was nothing special, but my anticipation was building. We saw someone at the gate, but no admission was required. Mark made a slight right turn and soon parked us under the fire tower, where we began gathering our things. My goal today was to hike the Fire Tower trail one way for 2 miles, then make the return trip back. It was 43 degrees, and I could feel the electricity in the air. Electricity brought on by the excitement of doing what I loved.

We made our way to the trailhead. Clicking my watch, we began our journey as my boots hit the dirt for the first step of this hike. It felt like Christmas morning as a child. I experienced sensory overload. The scent of the forest filled my nose. My eyes darted from side to side and up and down. I took everything in as my mind raced to spot things to shoot. Like a kid in a candy store.

Not 100 yards into the trail, I took my first picture. The one above. A simple composition, and not even a wonderful picture at that, but it got my creative juices flowing and helped to slow down my brain. This small cluster of leaves seemed to say welcome to the woods and the red leaf jutting out at the top almost appeared to be raising a hand to say hello. I took this as a good sign.

Mark and I shared pleasant conversations. I took pictures mostly of leaves and we traversed the trail for 2 miles one way, then returned 2 miles back. Overall, I got 11,400 steps on that hike alone and over 15,000 for the day. I experienced fatigue in my legs, depletion of energy, but my mind stayed relaxed. The woods are my happy place. I was glad to share my native hike of the season with Mark.

Until next time,

Tim