A Mneh Walk in the Woods

  Thrilling, huh?  This was one of the more exciting
   prospects on my walk.

It was beautiful weather today:  sunny blue skies and cool temperatures.  What better to do this afternoon, then, than to go for a walk?  I had passed Carson Woods many times, and Chir and I had gone for a five-minute walk there at dusk a few days ago, which whet my appetite.  Besides, the description said that the brook had frogs, fish, and turtles!  I haven't seen a turtle when walking along a stream in forever, and I love turtles.

The description lied.  The brook barely had water, and hardly deserved the name of brook at all.  When I think of Stony Brook, and Stonacker Brook, and Shipetaukin Creek, and Harry's Brook, and Heathcote Brook, and - you get the picture.  (Actually, you don't, because I didn't bother to take one.)  As for frogs and turtles - they must have been on vacation or not feeling sociable.  No close encounters of the reptilian kind (amphibian either, to be precise about frogs), although I did get bitten by some insect or other.  I do believe I saw a very small, dark fish dart away as I stepped down to the rivulet.

The woods themselves were mostly meadows, with mowed and some gravel-covered paths.  (I actually prefer plunging into the forest - damn the paths, full speed ahead and all that, but decided I wasn't in the mood to get slashed by briers or lost this particular afternoon.)

Who knows which path this was?  Not me, that's for sure!

Another teeny, tiny little problem.  The map was totally inaccurate!  Trying to follow it was like trying to make sense of things in Alice's Wonderland; can't be done, folks.  Paths that were depicted as straight curved in on themselves. Dozens of unshown paths made it difficult if not impossible to distinguish which paths were the maps depicted on the map. If there are seven right-hand turns, and only three are shown on the map,you have no way of knowing which right-hand turn is the right-hand turn you want.  Will the REAL second right-hand turn please stand up?

Well, I guess I shouldn't expect magic every time I hike.  Or even a good time.  At least I got out for a walk. And I didn't get lost.