Visiting the trails before Thanksgiving break

What is an excellent way to spend a leisurely afternoon on campus? Watching Netflix, sleeping, doing homework, or sitting on the couch watching time fly away? Before exploring the trails, I spent most of my spare time not actually doing anything meaningful, and instead of feeling relaxed, I felt even more exhausted and fretful. Yes, I am speaking of the stressful week of finals in November before Thanksgiving break. My week was jammed with tests and projects due, and every night before going to bed, I told myself that I would clench and survive the final week, and that later on, I was going to reward myself for my courage. When I finished my last Environmental Science presentation, I walked out of the classroom with an empty, excited mind.

When I arrived at my dorm, I reminded myself that I still had things to pack for Thanksgiving break. Nonetheless, my body seemed to be so hollowed out that it couldn’t follow any commands other than to lie on my bed. Life was a machine that operated 24/7. At 3 pm, my back ached; I stared at the dim ceiling and opened the shutters. The rain had just stopped and the sky was gray and cloudy. The grass outside my room was wet with water drops. Knowing that it was still chilly outside, I put on my jacket and gloves and went for a short walk around the campus.

My feet stepped on the dry leaves, producing a rustling sound. Most of the plants were green along the sides of the trail; the landscape in winter was not much different than that in the summer. However, my heart pumped fast as a sense of thrill ran through my body. I could hear the remote echoes of voices from the football and soccer fields as I wandered down the trail. Suddenly, I realized that the stressful exams were all over and now I was alone on the trails in the wilderness. Nobody except for the woods and the birds could see me. I owned the world and they owned me.

Biophilia: how you can experience it on the trails

Biophilia is a term that describes the feeling of love towards living things and the awe of being out in nature. “By walking on a trail, you will hear the euphonious quacks of birds, the crispy sound of water falling down in the Gulch, and the beauty of water striders demonstrating their ability to enjoy the cohesive property of water by skimming across the top without falling in,” said high school Biology teacher Mr. Mohlman.

For more opportunities to explore the nature on campus and have an intriguing adventure, join the FIELD RESEARCH STATION, hosted by Mr. Mohlman!

You could do individual experiments in nature or assist in caring for the honey bees, catalog animals seen on the field cameras, or work on the Habitat Restoration Area. It is an exciting, refreshing way to spend the weekend, and it meets in Mr. Mohlman’s classroom in Hines Hall every month on Saturday from 10-12pm! 

As a field researcher myself, the activity that interests me the most is to set up cameras along the trail and retrive the cameras a month later to look at the amazing images they capture. We put cameras on tree branches on the sides of the trail or facing an open field. Most of the time we get plenty of photos of students and faculty members walking along the trail with dogs; however, for every 200 photos taken there are about 20 pictures of the wildlife, including deers, rabbits, foxes and occasionally coyotes. They are much easier to track at night, when everything is quiet and still. You can say that in the day, the trails are owned by hikers, but once the sun sets, animals have just started their exciting activities.