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All photos are my own!
I balance along the edge of the stream like a tightrope walker in a circus performance. The gentle flow of the stream contrasts the anxiety felt when the leaves under my feet slip slightly as I walk along. The path is familiar, yet my surroundings seem to redefine themselves each time I visit. This hidden oasis existed just under my nose off a road I travelled frequently, but never manifested itself to me until this summer when driving by myself and enjoying the scenery. It is hard to imagine now, as I stand on the rock I always do, a time when I passed this cascade without stopping. This vault within the mountain that shares the same name as my hometown welcomes native residents to its splendor but shelters itself from those others who pass by and are distracted by the spread of corn fields on the opposite side. I approach the cataract and feel the spray, refreshing my senses to the moment I am living in. Icicles begin to reach down the rock, exposing places where small leaks are in the wall jagged stone. Trees border the frozen grotto and loom overhead to add to the cavernous effect. The water cuts through the otherwise solid mountain making me think these rapids were much stronger and provided a water source for the agrarian landscape it leads into. Now that I have reached the base of the falls, the point where I stop, the stream surrounds my feet and the spray begins to soak my coat. Then, I turn and look out through the tunnel of trees and rock I came from, I can see across the road and farm land to the peaks of homes in my neighborhood showing themselves behind the defenseless trees during the winter months. (Leopold)
Both my spot at Crescent Woods and Coward’s Falls are accompanied by the soothing sounds of rolling water. The stream in Crescent Woods meanders whichever way it chooses, while the attitude of Coward’s Falls is much straighter and more honest as a path back to civilization. Civilization surrounds Crescent and its beauty hides below the elevation of the unsuspecting passerby, and Coward’s hides in its own way in the shadow of the other views people are too busy looking at. Both are sheltered overhead by an abundance of Oaks, both White and Northern Red, which at this time of year form a red carpet for its visitors. Crescent Oaks are friendly with Maples as well, while these trees were absent from the roof of Coward’s Fall’s cavern. Instead, the Oaks there shared their space with Willows and Eastern White Pine. Wildlife has been shy in Crescent, but signs of deer were present at the Falls in the form of scat by the base of a vulnerable, leafless, Paper Birch. Exposed rock surrounds at Coward’s Falls like a sturdy back to the curtain of the waterfall, while the stones in the stream encourage the child in me to take my shoes off and see if I could make it across. Crescent does not have the same draw to the water rushing, rather pulls you through the winding of the stream wanting you to explore what is beyond the next change of course. The movement of water has always been a sound which calms my senses and allows me to connect with the natural world, so it comes as no surprise both spots carry this trait. (Holland)