Oct 13, 2021
They say do something every day that scares you
On today’s morning walk, I found more than one thing to scare me.
I am blessed to live where I live, and I thoroughly appreciate taking a walk around my neighbourhood in the morning — to settle, and to focus my mind.
This morning I found something that startled with me, something that scared me, but thankfully didn’t find a thing I am scared of bumping into the most-brown bears.
There is a stream, that runs past our house, I can hear it babbling as I go to sleep, I can hear it rolling as I am working and as soon as I step out the house it provides me orientation, comfort, and inspiration.
This morning as I stepped out for my morning walk, the air was eerily quiet. I had to really listen to hear the stream. And it’s not like we are in the midst of water-barren summer. It is October and the mountains are drenched in low hanging cloud. However my local stream the lowest I have ever seen.
So here’s the thing startled me - why is the water sow low? With this in mind I decided to follow the stream as part of my daily walk. Just to see if I could find some obstruction or blockage.
As I followed the winding stream off the beaten track and through denser and thicker forest, I came across the thing that scared me.
Turning a corner in a low-ceilinged vegetation tunnel five medium-size deer, startled by my presence jumped out direct in front of my path.
Walking through these woods I am used to seeing dear, sometimes the bucks stand head and shoulders taller than me, even without their antlers. But today I was distracted, not paying attention and their sudden presence literally made me yelp and jump!
Interestingly despite their initial panic my presence no longer scared the local residents, as one of them hung around, watching me with curiosity.
I followed the deer trodden path through the brambles and young growing saplings a little further, but the shock had shaken me and I couldn’t stop thinking about how next time that could be one of the 160 or so bears that inhabit these local mountains. I decided to halt my stream tracking activities for the day.
However, it has not left my mind, and perhaps this weekend, better equipped and with company we will hike up the mountain to find the source of the slowdown.
I do, however, have a hunch at the cause. Unfortunately these magnificent mountains and forests are subject to regulated managed logging.
Whilst it is regulated and managed, it horrifies me to see the truck load of cut trees leaving the mountains almost every single day.
Additionally, the disruption and mess these activities cause result in other, preventable impacts, too. Including blocking waterways.
So my hunch is that if I follow this stream further I will find an area of logging and an unnatural dam cause through carelessness. If I get to make this hike at the weekend, be sure, if I find the cause I will update this post and let you know.
