Most people today won’t ever get to experience the environment we have right out our back door. It is calm, peaceful, and full of wildlife.  For most people, they walk outside and see a city or just a bunch of buildings. They might have a park or two but it doesn't compare to what I have right in front of me.  The place in front of me is full of many adventures and exploration.

I can see the biggest brown pine trees that look like they could be the legs of a giant.

Tweety birds jump from tree to tree like a jackrabbit in the prairie.  There are little trees and brush that are as tall as a fawn that would be tricky to walk through. There are plenty of bugs, chipmunks, and birds that live in the brush. Colorful leaves litter the ground. They fall from the trees like snow on a winter day. The leaves are yellow, orange, and green and smell like dirt.

As I walk along the trail I can hear the wind blow through the trees. The trees shake back and forth making a constant rustling sound. As I keep walking I see an old brown building off to the side. It’s an old dark brown shelter made out of logs with a tin roof.  It has a place to sit along with shelter from the rain. As I sit here on the old brown rough bench I think about how great of a place this is and the beauty of it. The trees sway, birds fly and crows yell. I look down at the ground the dirty ground. There is long green grass with chopped up leaves in the ground. I stirred up the earth by kicking into the ground with my shoes. I see more like the cold brown dirt and if you look close specks of white in the dirt, the rocks in the ground a perfect place for bugs to live.   I notice more things like the moss growing on the bottom of the trees and just how cold it is so I get up and continue walking.

    I walked the beaten down path until I saw a lake. I went off roading to get a better look at it.  I went right next to the lake, stepping over dead trees and broken sticks while kicking the leaves.  I looked out at the weeds and saw the beautiful blue lake with trees lining the shore. Every so often there were little wooden docks that looked like they had seen better days. As I look in the water I can see the dirt and sand lie still as sticks, weeds, and clutter filled the bottom of the water. The lake smells fishy. It is peaceful and still, it looks like glass.

All this exploring reminds me of when I go hunting every November.  My family drives up to the woods the night before and stays in an old cabin like shack. The building I came across earlier reminds me a lot of it. Old, dirty, small and run down. There isn't any power or electricity if there isn't a generator running. We have an old rusty broken stove that we make work. It heats the place and warms food. It's also full of beds a couple of old couches and a dinner table. It isn't much but it's good enough for the weekend.

We wake up early in the morning of opener and drive the old red pickup into the dark woods.  There is a specific spot in the woods that we call the pines that reminds me of the spot in the woods where I was sitting.  There is another spot in mind that we call the cutoff. That part of the woods reminds me of the brush below the trees. It's got all the same wildlife; birds, deer, chipmunks and mice.

At the lake, it becomes apparent by looking at the sun, that it is almost time to go. I scurry to meet up with some friends, and we walk back to the bus. On the way back, we talk about our experiences out and around the woods. The cold weather, the tall trees, and the cold blue lake. On the walk a leaf falls on me it's as orange as the sun just coming over the horizon. About the size of my palm completely untouched without any tears or holes. Back on trail with my friends I had a conversation with them, I get to experience the things that they saw that I couldn't such as the red berries that hung down over the trail and the moss and fungi on the trees. It was a great time, I would love to experience again. As I got on the bus I took in one last breath of nature while looking out into the crisp beautiful woods.