Brushy Fork Woods

Ever since I was a child, I have found that natural spaces are where I gravitate to when I need a recharge. Even when I cannot physically go to a place, sometimes I close my eyes and visualize some of the places that I have visited in the past. One of my favorite places to go is near Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. I call this place the Brushy Fork Woods, because it is a trail that is near the Brushy Fork Creek that runs just behind the college.

It is interesting that you had to cross a bridge in order to get there because in some ways it was crossing over into another world for me. The path ran parallel to a stream that fed a larger creek for a while and there were many branches to the path. Immediately as you cross over the bridge you needed to make a decision, whether to go left or right. If you took the right path you would travel south for a very short time along a short wire fence row that was covered in brambles. The path went east for a ways. Further down this path there was a break in the fence row on the left. This path took you to a small cemetery. In this cemetery there was so much wild garlic growing that you could normally smell it if it had rained within the a few days. Some of the gravestones were very old, and I believe that there were a few that were from the 1870-1900.

Back on the main path I would frequently find myself wandering around absent in thought. The whole forest had a pervading smell of mustiness and old leaves. It seemed that even in the calmest weather there was always a bit of a breeze that went through the forest. Many of the surrounding hills were very steep and in wet conditions, they were nearly impossible to climb.

At night, if there was a small amount of moonlight it was usually possible to navigate this path, and occasionally I would walk here at night to collect my thoughts. The noise of the wind brushing through the trees, the brook washing over the rocks, the singing of the tree frogs, the chirping of the crickets, the occasional call of a nightingale or the hoot of an owl all together formed a sort of nighttime symphony for me.

Something about the walks at night could restore a sense of tranquility to me, even after a stressful day of studying, or testing. It was so easy to step right back into a world, just across that bridge, and feel like I could leave worry, fears, and angers behind. It was like I left them at the bridge. Crossing over the bridge in a way I felt like I was able to temporarily step outside of myself, in a manner of speaking. Once I returned to the campus, I would usually return with a new perspective. Sometimes it was with a better focus. Sometimes it was with a decision to focus on other things.

It is funny that we really need to step outside our normal perspective in order to be able to focus better. Occasionally, when I need to find some tranquility, I close my eyes and return on one of these walks.