Have you ever wandered through a pine wooded forest? In the heat of midsummer I head to Glacier
Hills County Park as often as possible. There
at the park, which is tucked in the rolling hills of the Town of Erin and very
close to the towering and very beautiful basilica of Holy Hill, you will discover
many deep wooded trails. Follow the trail directly across from the "black" trail--the "blue" trail.
Depending on where you begin this trail, you will eventually
come to the tamarack forest portion of the trail, which you cannot miss, since the "blue" trail takes you right through the
middle of the tamarack forest and all its dark, spooky glory. The
atmosphere with the tree’s piney canopy of soft needles creates a cool soothing and
blissfully dark trail to hike, especially on a cloudy day during a heat wave. Upon walking up to
the forest line take notice of what you hear.
There is a distinct change of worlds when walking from prairie into pine
forest. I compare it to exploring an
abandoned house. Once inside, it is very
dark compared to the outside and just like an abandoned house, a pine wooded
forest is an entity in and of itself. After
you’ve past the threshold between the outside and inside of the forest, all sound is muted from the prairie, much like the walls inside of an abandoned house mute whats going on outside. Being inside the labyrinth of trees directs all your senses inward. Pay attention to your step. What is beneath your feet? A soft bed of needles and crumbly wet,
rotting tree limbs cradle each step you take.
It is as though you are walking through an old carpeted room. What if you step off the hiking trail and
meander through the darker spaces between the trees? Notice the closeness of the trees;
notice how close you are to the trees now?
Watch out for that mushroom growing from beneath the needles. Careful of the spider web sparkling in the
small ray of sunlight shining through a hole in the tree canopy. Now you hardly hear your steps through the
woods, but what else do you hear? Do you howling, singing, maybe both, perhaps?
This is where the spookiness comes
in. In a house you are unfamiliar with,
that has been left to crumble and fall, hearing a small creak behind you from some dark corner and your mind can run amuck. Depending on what time of day you choose to
visit, which I choose to visit in the early morning when there is often still
fog rolling though the forest's shadowy walls, you may hear the howling wind through the
tops of the very tall trees. The howling
wind through the tops of the trees cause the tops of the trees to slide against
each other creating an eerie creaking and cracking, which some us find
delicious to listen to. Add the dark
forest howling wind and a thick rolling fog and some may find it a bit too
much to be off-trailing. Stick to the
trail if you must.
If you have the opportunity
to visit this park on a weekday instead of during the weekend, please do, since
many people visit on weekends. If you plan on going off-trailing and you are there during on a weekday, there is
still one more adventure to try while in the tamarack forest. Once you have tired of losing yourself amongst
the trees, sit down, or better yet, lay down between the rows of trees and look
up. Look around you. What are you feeling now? The first time I tried this was on a whim
since that morning had been so peaceful and being tired of wandering around, I
decided to sit down and then decided to lie down. As I lay there, meditating on the experience
of the gloomy forest and all its deliciousness, my skin began to crawl as I suddenly
heard something cracking through the nearby prairie wood line. I stayed still and listened. Through the
trees and out of the fog I saw ... a doe and her fawn completely unaware of
me. You thought I was going to say I saw
a ghost, didn't you? Sorry. That’s not to say you won’t, though. You never know! This tamarack wood has seen a thing or two.
