New view

Saturday, Nipper and I walked somewhere we've never walked before in about four years of living here -- to the park, about four blocks from home. How we got there is the new part. We walked the dry creekbed.

The creek is almost completely dry all the way through town, until it gets to the small dam on the east side. Nipper and I have been walking in the evening from the wooden bridge near my house to the bridge that's just south of us -- about a mile or so as you follow the roads. But then we've always turned and gone back home after reaching the bridge. Yesterday morning, I thought, what the heck, let's walk as much as we can. It took us close to a couple hours, mostly because the creek is awful twisty, and at one point, loops around almost back into itself. It was also pretty sandy, so the walking was a bit more difficult.

I wish I had taken my camera with me, because there were some interesting things that you can't see by sticking to the roads. Like the little skunk that just went about his business along the creek bed's edge, confident we wouldn't dare bother him. Or like when we came around the first bend and saw there was still one large pool of water, with a couple dozen or so fish trying to stay out of the mud. Or the large hole in the bank at the pool's edge that is home to who knows what kind of critter (I wasn't going to take a closer look!).

Also at that point, it looked like there was another channel that entered the creek (on a map, it looks as if it's a natural draw from the bluffs up north), but even stranger was that there were three or four large concrete structures crossing it, as if there was a bridge there at one time. But I saw no evidence of a road there. I'll have to check with one of my sources for local history about this.

We walked a little farther, and suddenly there was a loud crashing sound to our left, and then to our right! My heart pounded until I saw the white tails of several deer running through the woods alongside the creek bed. They must have been bedding down there for the day when we startled them.

At one point, the limestone bluffs that are common around here come right up the creek bed and towered over us. I imagine that back in the day when the creek was deep, that was probably a popular spot with the kids for swimming and diving in the summertime.

We got a little farther, and through the trees on our left, I could see some familiar sights of houses that line the road we usually walk on, so I knew we were getting close to the park. It was interesting to see the backyards of some of the houses we've walked by so many times.

We got to the park and climbed up to rest in the shade and get some water before heading home, since it was already getting hot. I don't know if we'll go that way again, but it certainly gave a different perspective on where I live.