The Lazy Man's Ride

My apologies to Judy, my Facebook/Flickr/Blogfollowing friend, who's probably already been exposed to this. I feel that this is a somewhat unusual adventure for me (a person who does not necessarily enjoy ticks, scratches, etc.

I thought, however it was an outing I may repeat someday, because the vast network of paths invites exploration.


The Dark Path Of A Slugabed
7/10/2009

Today, I slept well into daylight. Finally abandoning the sack at about 6:30 AM, I messed around doing morning things until my wife mentioned my bike ride.

Looking at my watch, I realized that it would soon be my lunchtime, and the "heat of the day"!

Thinking about a little path which starts near one of the river crossings on The Trail, I thought I'd give it a try.

About a mile and a quarter from home, I ventured into the deep, dark wood.

A short ride, less than three miles total from home, to here, and back, but a ride nevertheless. Better than none.




...7-10-09 Into The Deep Dark
Not knowing if this could be a potty path or something more substantial, I began a short walking tour up the hillside.

I quickly found that I was at the edge of a wooded disc golf course, and a substantial network of footpaths, leading to various places within the "forest".

...7-10-09 Have I Been Teleported to NC?
What forces of nature have sculpted this tree? I felt as if I might have wandered onto the trail to Linville Falls.


...7-10-09 Kathy's Dream
The gracious lady from New South Wales loves the sight of decaying wood returning home to the soil. On this hillside she would find much to love.


...7-10-09 The Lamppost Says No
Among the "briars and the brambles", one begins to feel he's lost all contact with civilization (if not for the sound of children playing at the country club pool nearby).

Then, a break in the foliage shows me The River Trail, only just across the river. I'm not lost in the forest, I'm only a short distance from my road home.


...7-10-09 Fungus 02
The lady who loves decaying wood would classify this fungus, and tell us about it.

I will simply call it "nature's art", and leave it to you, the viewer, to appraise.


...7-10-09 Unfriendly Fairway
No wilderness this, so close to the disc golf course! I walked a short distance into the course and looked back for this photo.

And for that matter, the golf course of carts, greens, and manicured fairways lies within easy reach, although I did not bother to walk my bike that far.

If you've not done it with any of the others, I'd like for you to click on this photo to link to the Flickr site, and view "all sizes", which will show the disc cage better.


...7-10-09 The Way Out
However, after I'd taken my photo of the disc trap, I began to look for the path I took to arrive here. It was not all that readily found. But here it is, the very same little path I took from the crossing.

Almost ready to mount my steed and become homeward bound.


...7-10-09 Vicious Guardian
How did I miss this coming in? A fearsome sight to one who's inattentive.

It missed me with its vicious thorns. Why? Such things never happen to me.

I should have left this path bleeding, but I was somehow spared.


...7-10-09 Traveling Rock In Both Dimensions
Back at the river crossing where I first pushed my bike into the dark wood.

In the river, I feel fairly certain, is the rock on which four of us sat and looked at the stars during a midnight hike in the distant past when the river was ours.

I especially like to imagine that I'm seeing the rock in two places, the world of the River Trail, and a topsy-turvy world in which the sky is below.

Time and the power of our once-upon-a-time river have given this rock mobility. We sat upon it a mile upstream, and I looked in vain for it for years after it disappeared.

I had simply underestimated the power of our little river.


...7-10-09 Selective Drought
The dark path abandoned, and peddling my way home, I pause to reflect.

Who can view this without feeling that The Creation is ongoing, and we're living with it even now?



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