forest creature

a few weeks ago the original supernatural nephew came to visit. he and his parents drove from missouri all the way to the catskills to see our new place, the dogs and our own sweet selves. i was sick. i got sick the week before- two days before the sweetie's birthday, three days before our anniversary. i was still sick the next week when the nephew came. nevertheless, his second day with us, my 40th birthday, we got up and went for a hike. when i am sick, i'm slow. i don't notice much. when you're having a birthday and when you're seeing a small child you only see once a year, you don't want to be slow. you want to notice everything.

the hike was a good hike, but didn't have the kind of excitement the nephew's aunt and uncle are generally known for. the nephew was hilarious. he loved posing for photos, pointing at whatever he wanted to be the focus of the image like some wacky tour guide. this drove his mother crazy, but he cracked himself up with his pointing poses. i figured he ought to be able to pose however he wanted since he was dealing with restrictions children from his part of the country don't usually deal with. he is quite a bit like his aunt and loves to collect. when we go on hikes, it takes all my willpower to keep myself from dragging home half the forest. i want to bring home bits of every moss, fern, flower, rock and whatever else might be portable enough for me to shove in a pocket. those signs at the trailheads guilt me into taking photos instead of laying waste to the place out of love for it. because i know the nephew is like me, has this compulsion to pick up every pretty thing his eye lands on, i gave him the talk about leaving the forest the way it was when he arrived. and he took it very seriously. i know because there were times i could see him tense up with the need to pick up and pocket something. i could watch him struggle over his impulse and win, but it was tough, i know. i thought his alternative behavior, pointing out and being photographed with everything he wanted to pick up was pretty smart.

we saw several trilliums and waterfalls. we crossed a couple of precarious foot bridges and wandered through and old apple orchard. afterward, we had honey ice cream from casey joe's. still, i wish i had been more like myself. more able to breathe and move. less tired.


last weekend, with only a cough to remind me i'd been sick, the sweetie and i tried out a new trail, one that promised waterfalls. there was no mention of the wild blackberries or lush moss we found along the way but we were glad to see them. so now the original supernatural nephew will need to come back.

the seager trail is a few miles south of arkville at the end of a winding road with a few covered bridges off to the sides.



this time of year everything is pretty much covered with moss or ferns or vines or running water. you might want to click the photos and see them up close to get the real idea of the trail. there are four falls here, all within a mile of one another. the second flows over slabby stone into a pool deep enough for swimming.

then the stone and water conspire to create some things folks in eastern forests just aren't used to seeing. spires. canyons. craziness.

the nephew will love this hike. he will love leaping from rock to rock on the higher part of the trail. he will love the blackberries (yes, we will eat them. nobody with any sense would walk past a big bramble of ripe blackberries without snacking). he will love swimming in water that is fast at either end but cool and still and deep in the middle. he will love wading through a canyon.