Noland Trail

     A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to the Noland Trail for class. I had never been there and I was excited. I attempted to have a dialogue with nature, instead of merely communicating to nature. I wanted to hear what they had to say to me. In my life, I had come to view animals as the main source of communicating with nature. However, on the trail I realized that the plants and foliage is able to say just as much as a deer wandering through the woods. I saw the thick patches of trees that sprouted after a disastrous storm uprooted much of the ecosystem more than a decade ago. I saw a tree that was dead nearest the top, but very much alive nearer the trunk. While I did not know what has happened to the tree, I know that it has struggled, but continued to thrive just as people do in everyday life. I continued my dialogue with nature throughout the trail and was surprised at how much I was able to learn just by listening to the sounds of Mother Nature and observing what she was showing me.