My new spot is in the Gunpowder Falls State Park in Parkton, Maryland where I used to run for track and cross country in high school.
This is the location of the spot:
https://maps.apple.com/?address=Gunpowder%20Falls%20State%20Park,%20Parkton,%20MD%20%2021120,%20United%20States&ll=39.607288,-76.674133&q=Marked%20Location&_ext=EiQprVNAQjLCQ0Ax6FhVcKAyU8A56gLoI0HZQ0BBR4VmjKkjU8A%3D&t=m
Here are some pictures from my spot:
As I sit here, the forest around is mostly quiet. Winter is starting to settle in and there is not as much life as there was earlier in the year. There are, however, birds chirping overhead as they make their way south for the winter. The leaves have mostly fallen from the trees and cover the forest floor almost entirely. It is a very familiar place. I have spent nearly every day after school for four years running in these woods. I know almost every root in these woods. I can faintly hear the flowing water of the river down the massive hill. I feel like I am on top of the world here—every path around me leads down a massive hill into the valley below. A rustling occasionally comes from the leaves a little ways away. At one point, I see a deer as it curiously ventures closer to the trail away from the shelter of the trees. A squirrel follows not close behind, searching for food to store for the winter. It is warmer than it has been in the past—fifty degrees in late November. The sun isn’t very bright, however, and does not reflect much of the fallen leaves, and the whole forest is somewhat dark. There are multiple trees which have fallen down since I have last been here, indicating a storm. A few branches have fallen into the trail where they had not been before. There are a few subtle changes to the forest, but overall it is overwhelmingly similar to what I am familiar with from when I ran here almost every day.
There are a few differences in the composition of the forest here as compared to my Burlington spot. There are no paper birch here in Maryland, whereas in the Burlington spot paper birch is a much more abundant species. The temperature difference is also noticeable, as are the effects on the forest. It is much warmer in Maryland, about twenty degrees on this specific day. There is no snow here as there was on the ground when I left my Burlington spot. Some of the trees have held onto their leaves and there is a little bit more green remaining in this spot. There is also more wildlife that I have observed in this new spot. I had seen few animals so far in my Burlington spot, but found multiple animals in the new spot. This is likely due to the Burlington spot being in a more well traveled area closer to human civilization, and the Maryland spot being much farther into the woods where less people frequently go. There was also a definite difference in the general ecosystems of the area due to the spot in Maryland being by a larger body of water, the Gunpowder River. While the Burlington spot is relatively close to the water in the stream nearby, it is a much smaller portion of the landscape there. I heard more birds in the Maryland area than I did in the Burlington area—this might because Maryland is farther south through which more birds are migrating during this time of the year.
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