Cudos to whomever decided to christen the nature trail at Aiken State Park as the "Jungle Trail". Who hasn't romantically envisioned themself as an explorer delving into the wilds and bravely tresspassing into the jungle only to delight in the discovery of new species of plants and bugs?
Which of us mucks our way through the mire of the morning communte not languishing for a thick green jungle to tame?
Bottom line- The Jungle Trail sounded uber cool and we couldn't wait to explore it.
Aiken isn't that far from the center of the state so it didn't take us too long to get there. We wondered what trials and discoveries were waiting. We got to the park and made ready to begin our journey. With steady strides we made our way to the lake and were only steps away from the trail head. Suddenly, a mighty splash followed by, "Does your mother now you decided to go swimming with all your clothes on?" A look revealed a boy between ten to twelve years old, fully clothed and thoroughly enjoying the new swimming area that had just opened at Aiken State Park. The remark had been noted by the boy whose joy was just now draining from his face and being replaced by a mix of fear and panic. "No sir," he replied. His look revealed his innocence and his youth. The child had truly jumped into the lake leaving all sense behind and had for a moment been overcome with an amnesia of his mother's potential discontent and probable wrath. "She will now," was his father's reply. The dad stood at the bank looking at his sopping wet son. The man's head gently shook. His hands held his waist and his own face revealed the question harbored in his heart, "What am I going to do with this child?"
Like any respectable parent watching an instance of this nature which did NOT involve my own children, I smirked and hustled the kids onto the trail and away from the bank...lest they too should take a swim.
A sign ushered us to the trail head. The teail was aptly named. The trees blotted out the sun as soon as we set foot on the beckoning path. It was well lmarked and we passed heavy shrubs and tall trees. We occasionally spotted enormous pine cones. The cones were as big as Little Leg's face. On we trudged until we heard Anchor call "Garfunkle." Wetfoot and Thoreau yelled, "Footbridge" while Little Legs and I responded "Garfunkle."
The Ultimate Outsider Challenge had beget a language of its own for our family. Key words throughout this day's exploration were:
Garfunkle - Footbridge
Salley - Creek
Rhonda - Roots
Steve - Rock
Bobby/Billy - Tree and
Gilbert - Trail Marker
Another word that would rise to the status of trail jargon was "Rosita" meaning mosquito.
Aiken is built on a swamp. The slow moving water that eventually feeds into a river creates an ideal nursery for mosquito babes. My family and I created the perfect buffet for the obnoxious critters . I do not care for DEET but there was no other choice as seven bloodsuckers landed on Ben's cheek. Fearing they may well unite and lift my son away, I stopped and immersed us all in a cloud of pesticide. It lasted about four minutes then the bugs returned. The swamp water had seemingly provided the pests an immunity to our feeble attempt to drive them away. We sped up, quickly devouring footlengths of trail under our boots and speeding closer to the trail's end. The children were amazing sports about it all. They didn't complain much but played guessing games and sang Disney tunes until we stepped off the Jungle Trail and into the light around the swimming area at the lake.
We were at the same spot where we had seen the father shake his head in disbelief at his son who had plunged into the joyous refreshment of the cool lake. I found my own head shaking as I listened to my own children emerge from the mosquito laden trail giggling and playful despite their seaty reddened mosquito bitten faces. I was amazed at childhood's ability to grasp the joy at hand and nature's ability to bath them in delight. I remembered the Saturdays that now seemed so distant when the children bickered with sharp words and dull faces in front of the TV screeen, game controllers and remotes in hand. I continued to shake my head though a smile swept over my face. Iwas so very grateful for these playful, joyful, sweaty, smelly engaged children basking in the sweet sunset beside the lake at Aiken State Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment