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Nature Experiences Past, Present and Tomorrow

© N. Lou Lyons

It began as a whisper years ago and eventually evolved into a silent shout. This was a deep longing to leave behind the city life; settle in the mountains of my home state, renew my relationship with nature, and finally put on paper the books that had been rattling around my brain for years.

This desire, left unattended, gradually intensified until one fine beautiful fall morning the cork popped, and a new journey began with fervent abandon. A sick day was called into work. All the information about campgrounds scattered around the house was gathered together and two hours later Pennsylvania soil was beneath my feet. By three p.m. a humble cabin in the woods of southwestern Pennsylvania had been rented through December while visions of book royalties danced in my head.

There was so much of nature to explore that often times when my fingers should have been pounding away at the keyboard, they were outside to encounter something adventurous in the woods. The first of many surprises was the discovery of princess pine (Lycopodium obscurum) growing sporadically not far from the cabin. So beautiful are these "tiny pine trees" that every day for over a week my travels took me back to the area just to touch the delicate leaves on several different varieties of club moss growing there. One day a hike deeper into the 100 plus acres of woods brought me before a sight to behold. An entire thick plush carpet of princess pine covered the ground as far as my eyes could see. The temptation to lie down there for a peaceful rest among the thousands of little flora was quickly banished, as the thought of crushing these beautiful green plants was too much to imagine. So a few were snagged to sit in a Mason jar with water on my kitchen table. Next, it was off to observe the flock of 16 wild turkey.

These large birds often arrived around the cabin in the morning plucking about the ground. They then disappeared, only to return again around dusk before they moved up the hill and into the woods. One evening curiosity about their nightly ritual drew me into the woods slightly above their well-worn path where they could be observed from a short distance. It was pure amazement to watch their aeronautical feats. They had their very own runway and flight pattern. Each turkey had lined up in a straight row on the path, but they all had stopped moving near a point on the hill close to a drop off. Then, one by one, each would run a few feet and take off flying to the tops of the trees to settle about 30 feet up for the evening. As soon as one bird was well on it's way, another would take off. After the last bird had lighted for the evening, an examination of the surrounding area showed that their runway on the ground led to the widest clearing available through the heavily treed woods to the treetops. These birds have such a large wing spread that any other flight pattern would have found their wings hitting trees as they flew.