After walking through Centennial Woods for a couple minutes, you will come to a small clearing, surrounded by Eastern white pines and several types of maples. You’ll know you’re there when you see a white sign warning of poison ivy. This spot has a fallen tree that serves as the perfect bench to sit on and relax with the surrounding nature. Through the trees ahead, you can see a lower section of the land near a stream. It’s the perfect spot for me because it’s so close to campus and yet I am completely surrounded by trees and wildlife.

When I went to my spot this week, I didn’t observe much wildlife other than the birds chirping above me. A lot of the leaves were still green, but I saw hints of yellow and red as I walked through the woods to my spot. The ground was scattered with fallen leaves and long, light brown needles from the Eastern white pines. That seemed to be the dominant species in my spot, but I also observed sugar maples, red maples, white oaks, and more. There were also quite a few ferns on the ground among the fallen debris. This spot is nothing special, but it holds a lot of natural beauty that will evolve throughout the coming seasons.