On January 18th I slept till the after noon then I slipped on my nike shorts and running shoes. There was very few clouds out, the ones that were present lightly brushed the electric blue sky. The air was easy to breathe and rushed through my hair. I drove two streets over onto Holbrook road until I passed under the highway bridge there I took a quick turn onto a bumpy dirt road that led to the park entrance. Still sitting in my car the heat outside was radiating over my skin, but not enough to where I was uncomfortable. As I stepped out into the 70 degree weather I felt refreshed and calm. I walked for about ten minutes on the trail that curved and snaked around sections of trees. Through the trees I could see the back yard of a horseback riding training center that hugged the sides of the trails. The elegant horses were dressed in their black harnesses. I went off trail to get a closer look of the horses, but they were still too far to get a good picture of them. Slightly disappointed I traveled back to the main trail and gazed upward at the dark underside of leaves causing blue pieces of sky to peak through. I wanted to see more animals, there were none in sight only vegetation. I broke off onto a separate trail that was eroded from bikes which eventually led me to the creek. The dark water that lay over white dusty rocks was at a much lower elevation than where I stood and presented a risky possibility of falling if I attempted to cross it.
But I crossed it regardless.
I managed to find a reasonably comfortable rock to sit on. Similar to Leopald’s novel I glanced down to see vegetation, “it is the nature of roots to nose into cracks.” Just as roots climbed around the rock I sat on. I waited on the rock for some presentation of nature, but all I felt was dissapointed. Scattered along the water’s edge trash clung to branches, and plastics bottles floated on the water some getting caught by rocks poking up through the low water. I felt anxious seeing the litter consuming my little hiding place. There were small minos gliding through the creek water but there was no other fish or frogs or salamanders. There was no squirrels or deer I could hear the faint calls from birds but I didn’t see any directly.
I left concluding that I felt more stressed than relaxed visiting Salado Creek, but I hope in the next few months when I return that there will be less garbage, more greenery, and hopefully more wildlife.
Salado Creek
