Nature Journal

"There was no sound, no lapping waves against the rocks, no rustling of leaves or moaning of wind through the trees, one of those times when all seems in suspension and even the birds are hushed." Sigurd Olson, from Listening Point








6 Feb.


One of the great walkable patches of quiet land in the area is tucked between Veteran's Memorial Park hwy. 16 West Salem, and the entry onto the Great River State Trail, which lays parallel to train tracks that cross the backwaters of the La Crosse River.  Here the path is flat and lush either summer or winter.  In summer the red wing blackbirds stand their usual guard at cattail outposts, butterflies flit about the red-stemmed thorn and purple paintbrushes, and the ultimate entertainer, the caterpillar, can't seem to get enough crawl time over the soft warm gravel trail, where children pick them up and inspect nature close up. In winter, the dollops of recent snow that hang on the branches of the basswoods or the milkweed stems melt slowly against the afternoon sun so that when they fall the twigs and branches snap back to place as if for no reason, leaving the walker to look in and around the frozen marsh gulleys in suspicion and wonder. Two hawks, now in hog heaven so to speak, squawk as if in appreciation as they weave in circles across the powder tone sky.