Chilled air brushed my face and the backs of my hands while the sun warmed me. Shadows played across the landscape shifting to and fro as Earth rotated around Sun and breezes danced through the limbs and leaves of the trees. Rocks crunching under my feet and grinding against one another are the only sounds I heard at first. I moved down a small, but treacherous hill, where heavy amounts of small white rock have been poured as a path leading to the trail. I came to a choice. Do I follow the path around the rim of the old query in our community or do I follow the path that travels down through the query? The rim called to me. Walking along this path I questioned my decision to leave my camera behind in the car. Some areas within the old strip-pit hold sparkling water. Today the water was crystal clear and created a beautiful vision from atop the rim. Ah, what an amazing photographic opportunity. I must soon return with camera in hand and a hope in my heart to discover another clear day to photograph such a beautiful scene.
Looking down upon the query floor I take notice of how it is filling with new growth. Cattails, small fir trees, grasses, and other various shrubs and trees have pushed forth through the rough rock floor and walls to reach skyward. Holding hands some stand in small groups while others stand alone. A snakelike path winds its way through the bottom of the query slithering from one side to the other. Though this path was created by DePauw University staff when the university took ownership of and preserved this area and turned it into the DePauw Nature Park it smoothly blends into the landscape as though it has always belonged there. Again my eyes travel to the water. I recall a day last summer when my husband and I took our then three-year-old along the shorter path into the bottom and ventured onto the rocky shore of the water. Our young son experienced great joy in selecting just the right small stone and tossing it into the water. The plunk of the water accepting the weight of the stone, the explosion of water drops leaping into the air and the ripples drifting out getting bigger and bigger enthralled him.
Moving on around the rim I came to another choice in paths. Without hesitation I chose the trail that led away from the query and into the shadowy woods. Crickets continually played a sweet tune, but I began to notice that all of the woodland animals were keeping hidden from view. Perhaps, the vibration of my footsteps kept them away. Occasionally, I would hear what seemed to be a scamper in the brush, but my eyes were unable to spy evidence of such. As more branches in the paths appeared I continued to choose the path that would carry me deeper into the lushness of nature knowing eventually these trails would wrap around until they were nestled into the forest floor next to the creek. The path itself shifting from gravel, to grass, to a bed of fallen leaves, to sand led me up and down hills and around curves within the belly of the woods.
