I went to my spot after NR1010 in the midst of a pretty hard and stressful week. I didn’t want to walk down to Centennial Woods at all, but I forced myself to because I thought it would make me feel better and it definitely did! We talked a little bit about how going out in natural areas improves your mental health in NR1010 today, and that was definitely the case for me. My mind felt clearer, and all the things I was worrying about didn’t seem as significant.
There was a lab group working close to my site, and at first I was upset because I just wanted to be alone. But then I began to appreciate this because it reminded me of how Centennial isn’t beneficial for just nature walks, but also for supporting education. Walking into the clearing, I immediately noticed there were way more tree leaves on the ground. It was hard not to notice them since they were a bright yellow and light brown color that contrasted with the usual dark brown pine needles that cover the ground. The area looked a little more barren with the majority of the trees’ leaves on the ground, but I also thought this looked really beautiful.
When I could tune out the cars racing by and airplanes flying above, I could really hear the birds chirping above, and the wind rustling what leaves the trees had left. Finally, I had the realization that the trees in my spot are familiar to me now, I know exactly where they are, what kinds they are, and what they look like which is sort of comforting.
Vegetation
There are a lot of yellow and light brown leaves from Sugar Maple, American Beech, Red Maple, and Northern Red Oak trees on the ground. The young Sugar Maple tree has now lost most of its leaves with a few yellow ones remaining on the upper branches. The young American Beech also lost most of its leaves, with a couple very small and brown shriveled up ones remaining. The Christmas and Intermediate Wood Ferns look the same, but I found a new Norway Maple tree. I thought it was interesting how most of the leaves are remaining on it and are still green. The Barberry leaves are transitioning from green yellow, and the Eastern Hemlock trees have lost a noticeable amount of needles which is interesting to me since they’re coniferous trees.
