Sep 02 2011
Refuge
I recently discovered a small pocket of wildness in a nearby town that’s a great place to seek refuge when the stresses of modern living become too much. My wife Judy brought it to my attention. She learned about it from people she works with. Like most town forests, it isn’t well known. And from the looks of the unbeaten trail, few people go there.
While roaming its complex network of paths, I marveled at the fact that I hadn’t discovered this place a decade earlier when I first moved to Franklin County. But not every town forest is heavily signed or well-marked on maps. Even when they are, it’s easy for us to miss them. After all, we naturally associate smallness with insignificance.
Only ten miles from my house, this largely overlooked forest is good place to wander and wonder – a good place to let the nerves uncoil. I reached a bench at an intersection of paths that proved to be an ideal place to sit and think. No one came along while I did so. Yeah, this is my kind of place.
Refuge, sanctuary, asylum, haven – the meaning of each of these words is nuanced, slightly different from the rest, yet they all indicate the same basic thing. We all need at least one safe place to go when the bullshit becomes too much. I’ve just added this one to my short list.
I prefer deep woods, miles from the nearest road, but time restrictions often prevent me from reaching such places. So I go where I can – an hour here, two hours there. And that’s how I keep road rage and all other forms of civilized madness at bay. Where do you go? What do you do?
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