My Own Hundred Acre Woods
I grew up in the woods, about a mile and a half out of town. Valverdant. German for green valley. Our actual yard was the two and half acre woods. Set on a hillside in a dense grove of quaking aspen and thickets of choke cherry and service berry bushes, it was its own little forest. Beyond the willows that lined the little creek was Hoefer’s timothy meadow ... home to herds of deer and elk ... on the other side of the back fence was my real Hundred Acre Woods, even if Lodwik’s ranch stretched over a thousand acres.
When you are eight, be it two and a half acres or a thousand acres, you are Christopher Robin and know it is your very own Hundred Acres Woods. You search endlessly for Pooh and Piglet, and at first worry it was a Heffalump when you spook a deer while wandering through the scrub oak of the hilltop. After home and school, I probably spent more time in my woods than anywhere else.
All my Heffalumps turned out to be deer and elk. I never did find Piglet, came close once on Pooh ...but turned out to be more like Smokey Bear... I did meet several Owls, some ptarmigans, and the yearly parade of grouse in the sage flats. The creek was home to frogs and snakes. Trees to climb and foxes to chase, what more could a boy want?
Whenever my Hundred Acre Woods was not enough, there was the Thousand Square Miles Woods just another mile up the road - Routt National Forest - and a short walk to Fish Creek Falls. Continuing up the trail there is something past the Woods, even beyond the Forest ... if you keep going ... you will find the ... Wilderness!
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Comments: 44
Then there's the joining factor of growing up reading the Pooh books.
Together and apart.
One human family.
The photos were amazing and show the true beauty of nature. You are incredibly lucky to have such an expanse of nature around you to explore.
I want to let you know that Lisa Gensheimer has announced the winner of the Pennsylvania Wilds - Take a Hike - Win a Book contest:
Summer Morning Climb into Clark State Forest with David and Mike - Photos by barb w.
I hope you all will take a moment to visit Barb and read her winning entry about a hike in the White Oak Preserve which she has illustrated with many beautiful photos.
Yep, they're on my back door and they're pretty cool, though they lack your far more interesting range of fauna.
I will write more about My 100 Acre Woods, the 1000 sq mi Woods, and even the Wilderness.
This was written for Take a Hike - Win a Book (click the link to read all the entries in Lisa Gensheimer's writing contest/drawing) which was limited to 300 words.
As many of you know, I write a travel column for GatherEssentials mostly about far-flung places I have wandered off to ...but... I have also been to many of the states that you live in. I encourage you all to get out and explore your own 100 acre woods, as I have discovered beautiful and magical places everywhere I have gone, be it far-far-away or just around the corner.
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Your hundred acre wood is such a beautiful place, by your photos and writting skills, it sounded and looked so wonderful.
I grew up on the Snowy River in Australia it was a great place to live. I lived on a ninety mile beach in the summer and in the winter we would go up into the mountains for the ski season. Alot of people don't know that Australia actually has snow in a small part of it's country.
:)
Lovely Bill!