Jessica Simpson- Noland Trail

I have walked the Noland Trail many times since I first started attending CNU. It is a place of peace for me and when Prof. Redick told the class we would be walking it I was very excited. Walking along the trail, after drowning out all the surrounding sounds of people chatting and the thud of tennis shoes hitting the ground as runners went by, I started really taking it all in. The controlled wild. There was a cool breeze that rustled the dry branches above me. I walked along the trail and tried to find the secrets of the forest, I saw an abandoned spider web that was torn, most likely by someone passing though because it was in a precarious position not too far off the beaten trail. I glanced upward towards the sun and saw three vultures lurking in the nearly bare branches, scavenging for a meal.

Prof. Redick told us to touch and feel the earth, so I reached out to touch the devils walking stick that seemed to be everywhere. Although I have walked this trail before I never noticed how much of this sharp pointing plant there was that lined the trail. There were decaying tree stumps that, even though they had died they provided a place for new life to exist. Out sprang a daffodil, fresh and alive from the carcass of a once alive and thriving tree.

Eventually I came upon a bridge, I rested there for a while absorbing my surroundings. In the distance some sort of what I could only assume was a bird caught by eye. I was dark and had a sharp beak. It would pop violently out of the water it swam in the plunge into the dark water and disappear for 30 or 40 seconds, only to reappear 50 or so feet away looking confused and hungry. I watched the bird for a while, the trees above provided a forgiving shade from the heat of the sun beating down on my back.

In the distance birds chirped and you could hear a faint sound of a woodpecker pecking against the solid bark of a tree high above. I could hear the soft splash of fish hopping in and out of the lake. It was beautiful and so peaceful.