Noland Trail - Josh Osteen

Looking at the map, frantically watching my speed and the road, I drive to the class meeting on the Noland Trail. I'm worried that i'm going to be terribly late and so my mind is freaking out. I watch the clock and get more nervous as each minute flashes up. I finally arrive at the bridge and step outside to the warm fall weather. I meet up with the class as they are just walking to the big statue that begins the trail portion we are walking. We talk about the history and we start our walk. We stop every 10-20 feet and find out something new; a berry, a historical fact about how something was changed, or how the trail has changed in the past few years. We get to the final stopping point for the entire class and I am finally getting in touch with the atmosphere of these woods. I start trekking back to my car and my mind is losing the frustration that once was blinding my thoughts. I begin my observations on my own.

As I walk back through the trail, I see small trails darting off into places that it seems things could not actually fit. I see trails winding back over small hills and to places I cannot see. These trails look like challenges to search for the new. I ask myself why people cannot sometimes enjoy the known instead of looking for new. I understand and have felt the need and passion for unknown adventure, but I had taken this hike in order to analyze and exist in the known. I also see in a tree initials cut into the bark. I instantly think of a movie called Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. This movie has a scene where one of the main characters puts the other main characters hand on a recently cut tree. She asks him if he can feel the pain. The fact that the first character was that connected to nature makes me very jealous. Thinking about the actual tree I saw, I wonder why people carve their names into trees. Do people feel the need to destroy in order to physically express what one can only feel emotionally? I continue on the trail and stop to see an ant carrying an unusually large piece of food. I also see a small troop of recon ants and I just admire the fact that they are navigating this huge world and working together. I get back to my car and sit on the bridge and look out upon the lake. The lake looks infinite yet enclosed. I can see part of the lake, but it winds around a bend and the rest is lost to my eyes. I feel as though it keeps going forever with ever-changing landscape and things to see, but i know that it is deceitfully finite.
Overall this hike was very interesting. I was able to change my mind and focus on the task at hand and was able to let go of the stress that was bothering me. I felt not completely centered and in sync with the trail, but I was able to see and feel the things we needed to feel and was able to understand in real life the things we've talked about in class.