After playing on the mountains yesterday I wanted to stay closer to home today. Well actually I didn’t want to leave my house. Instead I took the day to stay home and take care of some business here. I started to prep my gear for the upcoming Death Race. Some of the “required(?)” gear list include knitting needles, axe, saw, chop sticks, PFD, and dress shoes. After starting to think about what else I might need for the unknown and sewing a Dirt In Your Skirt patch on my pack I wanted have an adventure. Also my car got Dirt in Your Skirt-a-fied right next to some other friends.

Many times we, myself included, feel like we need to go off to some exotic location for an adventure when really sometimes you don’t have to leave your own backyard. It’s a rare moment when I get to spend a whole weekend home! Being that I just moved and my new house is surrounded by woods, I have a lot to explore. So sometime in the afternoon, I grabbed a bag with 30lbs of sand in it and went for a walk. The guys that lived here before me started to build a trail in the back although after about ten feet I couldn’t find it anymore. As I bushwhacked through knee high ferns and brush, gingerly placing my next step into the unknown green. I started to see all the cool stuff I have only feet from my house.

My Own Walden Pond

It’s so often that we get home, and just hang out in the immediate area, never venturing beyond those first few steps. If you are lucky enough to live in a rural area exploring a backyard can be an exciting activity. My landlord had told me about a small pond just down the hill. I immediately had images of my very own Walden Pond. The pond formed from an old foundation of a building long gone. I trekked through the brush down to the pond. Some signs of the original foundation still existed. Walden my pond is not, but it still holds an interesting story and instead of a one room cabin, I have a two-bedroom downstairs of a duplex. Still my pond is a pretty neat feature to have in the yard. When the bugs die down it will be even better. I walked around more and found old nails in trees, and random tires that had somehow made their way there.

Inspired by nature and that around me I came back to the house dropped the sandbag and trekked back out with a camera. All of the photos on tonights post are in and around my house which are made to look a little cooler with some photo editing. Sometimes you really just need to go off and step off the mowed section of your yard and you will find a whole other world. As well on my second trek out a found another trail to explore some other day. Never a dull moment in the woods.

A New Friend Found