A Walk in the Woods

Towering Sugar Maple Tree

There is a remnant of the Big Woods that once covered much of western Wisconsin and south-central Minnesota, not too far from where I live. It is a small Scientific and Natural Area managed by the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources.

It’s name is Wolsfeld Woods and it is one of my favorite places to hike. Populated with huge sugar maples, oaks, basswood, and elms, I love these woods for the majesty of the trees and beauty all around. Much of the year, the mosquitoes are so numerous and fierce in these woods that I avoid hiking here. From Memorial Day until mid-August, the woods belong to the mosquitoes. This late in the summer the mosquitoes are far fewer although there are areas where they can be bothersome.

“We walked always in beauty, it seemed to me. We walked and looked about, or stood and looked. Sometimes, less often, we would sit down. We did not often speak. The place spoke for us and was a kind of speech. We spoke to each other in the things we saw.” ― Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow

Moss covered trunk

This was my first visit to the woods this year and I found the trails much changed from previous years. The heavy rains of early summer caused severe erosion of many parts of the trails and washed away a couple of log “bridges” that I used to use to cross over wet patches of ground. The plentiful rain this year also created the greenest under-story I’ve seen in these woods and the biggest, healthiest Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants I’ve ever seen.

While a familiar landscape, because of the changes, I felt as if I was walking through an entirely new place. I paid close attention to everything around me, letting go of expectations and greeting each tree and plant as something new, never seen before.

These woods always make me feel as if I’m in a God’s great cathedral. The soaring height of the grand old sugar maple trees, light filtering through the leaves above, fresh breeze caressing my skin, shady quiet, and solitude, all create sacred space.

“Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.” ― C.S. Lewis

The woods also remind me of the cycles of life. All around me I can see fallen trees in various states of decomposition, with fungi of all sorts feasting on the dead wood. Soon the decomposed wood will join the soil to nourish the new trees that spring up.

When was the last time you took a walk in the woods?