Yesterday at Lake Katharine I walked face-first through a spider web and also encountered my first mosquitoes of the season and saw poison ivy in full leaf, which suggests that we're moving out of the pest-free hiking season toward the time of constant vigilance. With the spring ephemeral wildflowers pretty much exhausted, I'm spending less time scanning the undergrowth beside the trail and more time taking the long view, looking farther ahead for potential hazards.
Including people. Warmer weather is bringing out more hikers, so I'm constantly on the lookout for wide spots where I can step aside to let the faster hikers pass while maintaining social distance. I've enjoyed having the woods mostly to myself, but time marches on with change in its wake so it's time, once again, to adapt.
Whose woods these are I thought I knew--
They're mine! But others use them too
to exercise their sovereign right
to exercise. I won't eschew
the trails I hike, however tight
and crowded with unwelcome sights
of poison ivy, biting bugs,
and spider webs at face-smash height.
But people! I won't give a hug
to other passing hikers--ugh!
I'll don my mask and I'll release
the trail to them without a shrug.
I'll walk the woods and make my peace
with pests, and I will not decrease
the miles I hike before I cease.
I've miles to hike before I cease.
(With apologies to Robert Frost.)
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