Through the Woods

The path forward (and back again).

Sam and I went on our first and probably only walk at the town forest the other night. We had talked about going there at various times throughout the summer, but it was always either raining, or so hot and muggy that the prospect of attempting it was always put off for another day. That “other day” turned out to be the other night.

We left the house just after dinner and by the time we got there, there wasn’t a whole lot of daylight left, but we chose a path and headed down anyway.

We didn’t walk the hill path. Instead, we walked a path which loops around the outer bounds of the forest, eventually coming to a gate. When you reach the gate, you can either leave the woods by going onto an extremely busy road, which is filled with blind corners and no sidewalk - or you can turn around and head back on the path you just walked on. We chose to walk back on the path.

By this time, it was nearly dark.

I had grabbed a small flashlight before we left the house, just in case. Turns out, it was a good thing. It was pretty tough to see where we were going and while the small penlight wasn't great, it was better than no light at all.

As we made our way back to the car, I was going to make some joking comment about how we better keep our eyes open for any bears - but I decided that, not only was it not very funny, but that actually, it was a very real possibility. Instead, I picked up the pace and we hustled back to the car, arriving safely in what felt like the middle of the night. I think it was closer to about 7:30.

In another couple of weeks, we’ll be setting the clocks back an hour, which means less daylight and therefore, fewer options for going on walks. I have no desire to walk in the woods in the dark, and even if I were so inclined go there, the bike paths we walk along all close at dusk. Time, I guess, to explore other options.