A Witch's Walk

You never know what you might see on a beautiful summer day while walking through the woods.

A squirrel munching on an acorn. Or perhaps, a rabbit foraging for a patch of grass. Maybe you might see something completely different, out of the ordinary, something that sparks your imagination.

Should you look up at the top of the trees? Or maybe look at the ground? You might see a beautiful bird spreading its wings. Or possibly see a small insect building a nest in the fallen leaves. Then again, looking down, you might catch sight of a large protruding tree root you might have tripped on if you hadn’t been looking down.

Who knows? Nature is a wonder!

Just try to remember to always have your camera ready.

I love walking through the woods for just that reason – because you just never know what you’ll find or what might spark your imagination.

One day, I chose a park that was tucked away from the main road in the middle of Port Charlotte, Florida. Being the nature park it was meant to be, you won’t find any playground equipment for children to exert their energy. Yet, you can hike to your heart’s desire.

With my camera bag hanging on my shoulder and my camera strap around my neck, I began the long walk through the woods.

I smiled at myself as I thought of Hansel and Gretel and wondered if I’d see anything resembling a small cottage. Maybe, I might see a tiny cottage that would remind me of the seven dwarfs, and I strained my ears as I waited to hear them sing, “Hi Ho, hi ho! It’s off to work I go!”

Laugh as loud as you’d like. Yes, I laughed at myself but remember, I was in the woods, alone and allowed my imagination to run wild. I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

I saw a few other people hiking along the uneven paths that led from the beginning of the park’s entrance that wound around and through the park until you arrived back at the entrance. The sign at the park’s entrance said it was a two-mile hike. It also cautioned that there might be alligators in the area. As I made the way around the pond, I stopped daydreaming and became acutely aware. Somewhat disappointed, I saw no alligators. Disappointed and also relieved. While a photo of this magnificent creature would have been an awesome event, I also didn’t want to take the chance I might become lunch for the beast.

I slowed my pace and walked a bit quieter until I was well clear of the pond. Oh, yeah, I did get a few photos of birds. In a way, they made up for the lack of “boot skin” material.

While I trekked on, I saw a few things that sparked my curiosity. I took a photo of a few pinecones that had neatly fallen from a tree and formed a perfect circle. That made me wonder how pine trees grew. As far as I knew, every plant had a seed. So, what was the seed of the pine tree? I was eager to get home and find out. I never knew until that day that the pinecones were the seeds, and they were male and female. What an eye-opener!

I saw many palm fronds that looked like fans. In my mind's eye, I thought of the old movies I’d seen of Cleopatra being fanned by such leaves. However, in the movies, the fans weren’t dried out and brown as the ones I’d seen on the park floor.

Yes, I did see and photograph a squirrel munching on something I couldn’t quite visualize. He was so engrossed in his food, he never noticed me taking his picture.

Since the park’s trail was a two-mile hike, the county placed a few benches throughout the park so a weary hiker could sit and capture an interesting photo or maybe their breath. Some of us in the older generation, lose wind easily while others need to rest their arthritic bones. These benches come in extremely handy.

Approaching a bench, I saw a scene that not only stopped me in my tracks, but also had my imagination running in crazy directions. I wanted to change the lens on my camera but decided to capture the picture first. However, before I did, I didn’t bother looking upward but I did look around.

While there was not another soul to be seen, I chuckled to myself hoping that should someone be approaching in my direction, they wouldn’t hear a crazy old lady laughing aloud at something they might not have understood.

I saw a bench with a palm frond leaning against the nearby tree. Okay, so that isn’t unusual in a park in Florida. My imagination made it unusual. The first mental image I had was an old woman who had been busy sweeping out her cottage and decided to take a break and leaving her broom against the tree, took a walk in the woods looking herbs for her cauldron. The second vision was that of a witch who decided it was too nice a day to be flying around above the trees. She wanted to wander through her woods.

As I said, I have quite an imagination.

Sitting on the bench, I changed the lens on my camera, had a few mouthfuls of the water from the bottle I’d brought with me, then after resting about half an hour, stood, took one more look around, and headed down the path that would eventually lead me out of the park.

As you guessed, I saw no cottage, no old woman, no witch. Yet, it was fun to imagine all three lurking in the woods where I chose to spend a glorious afternoon.

On my next trek to that park, I’ll invite my friend to go with me so I can show her the awesomeness of nature. Who knows? Maybe next time, we might even see an alligator or two.

Whatever we see, the trip is definitely worth the thirty minutes it takes to drive there.