Today was a really good day for a final site visit. The wind made it almost chilly, but in Centennial (where my spot is) the trees made it just breezy. It was really nice to be able to sit and just listen to the wind for a while. I took a photo from the same place that I did on my first site visit, and it was really cool to see how its changed from the fall to winter to spring. The ferns have just come out of the ground and the trees are just starting to leaf out. All the small ground cover type plants are almost fully grown in, so it looks pretty green now, a big change from the last time I was there.
Given that my place is situated in an area that is managed for human use, I would say there’s a pretty significant intersection between culture and nature at this spot. I wanted to pick a spot that I could reasonably get to but also feel like I was “out in nature” a bit. The trails through Centennial, as far as trails go, are relatively low impact. They aren’t very wide and aren’t paved or gravel covered in any way, so they don’t change the landscape all that much. The way that the woods are managed for use by the community seems very intentional with the health of the forest and overall ecosystem in mind. There aren’t large areas cleared, and the trails seem to follow natural ridges and dips.
I wouldn’t say I consider myself a part of my place. Though I liked going there, I really only went to that specific spot in Centennial for assignments. When I went to Centennial for walks, I would usually just weave through the trails as a whole and not really stop in one place. I also feel like to have a really deep connection to a place to a point that you feel like part of it, you have to spend a lot of really formative time there. Given that I’ve already done a lot of my growing up on the other side of the country in very different kinds of nature, I feel a lot of connection to those places. I think as I spend more time in Vermont and it’s natural areas, I will feel more like a part of these places myself. Even though I don’t consider myself a part of this place, I think I’ll probably come back to visit it again in the fall, see what’s different and what’s the same. It was really pretty when all the leaves changed, may have to go back and see that too. So long, spot.