An Early Morning Stroll Through Time



Split Rock on the Coxing Kill has been carved out of the quartz conglomerate over the last 10,000 years.

I went home this past weekend to be part of a wedding for a friend I have known since 1st grade and to visit my folks.  As I do every time I get a chance to go home to the Hudson Valley I go for a quick hike in the Shawangunks and this trip was no different.  I chose to stroll along one of my favorite streams that I have spent a great deal of time exploring over the years.  In every trip I manage to see something for the first time or things I have already seen in a different light.  This trip was no different.

However, on this particular hike, I didn't see any spectacular animals or encounter any new blooming flowers.  The stream was running at about normal levels for this time of year and all of the sights, sounds, and smells suggested that it was business as usual in this forest.  What did stand out on this walk was my sense of appreciation.  At one point I took off my Teevas and placed my feet in the cool clear water of this little pool I love to visit and just took it all in.  After a while I was somewhat startled by the rising of some beautiful 3-4" brook trout within a few feet of my toes.  It was at this point that I began to feel a deep sense of appreciation for all that I was enjoying around me.  Thousands of years of water sculpting rock and cycles of birth, death, and birth again have given rise to these beautiful hardy little creatures at my feet.  Their ancestors may have endured here since the last ice age despite hundreds of years human influence.   If one thinks about it, how can you not come to appreciate it?  It may have only been a few moments in time that I spent in contemplation of this but literally thousands and millions of years of biological and geological events had to occur for this to happen.  If moments like this do not create a deep sense of awe, reverence, and appreciation for what is around, I don't know what will.