The Beauty of Nature

Have you ever sat outside and just appreciated the beauty around you? Nature isn’t something that’s only beautiful because of the sights, but also the sounds and the smells. It really doesn’t matter where you are, you can appreciate everywhere. Even in big cities there are little signs of nature that you can enjoy, though they are scarcer than in an entirely rural town. And if you grew up in New England then you definitely know the kind of rural town that I’m talking about. If you haven’t experienced the beautiful New England nature in a while, let me paint a picture for you.

Imagine you live deep in the woods in a quiet, almost isolated community. The only people that you really know are those that live in the same town as you or the people that live in one of the other handful of towns that are very similar to yours. In the woods that are around you are countless trails that lead to different places throughout the town and sometimes even into other towns, and you’ve walked all of them. Today you choose to go down your favorite trail; the trail that goes into the woods about 2 miles to a waterfall and continues to an old abandoned hunter’s cabin. All you bring with you is a bottle of water and your cell phone, though you only plan to use it if you run into trouble.

All around you are trees, green and full of birds and squirrels. You can smell all of the different kinds of trees and just that wilderness smell that is indescribable. You can hear woodpeckers, other birds chirping and in the distance you can hear running water. Following the sound you find this running water and wonder where it leads, so you follow it further. You stop at a pond that it comes out of and notice boats and a campfire near the water; someone has found to love this trail as much as you are beginning to. Walking along the pond you realize that there is another river that feeds into the pond, so you keep following curiously.

As you continue walking you wonder what lies ahead. Where does this river start? You walk for a little while longer, enjoying every aspect of your surroundings. Seeing multiple animal tracks you become curious yet again. You don’t know what kind of animal could have made some of these tracks. Maybe a deer, maybe a fisher cat? It’s up to your imagination. As you walk you notice that the sound of water running downstream is starting to get louder. You walk toward the sound and are surprised by what you see. A waterfall. Living in a small rural New England town you never expected that. You stand staring at it for some time, amazed by the beauty within something so simple. Then you keep going.

The rivers beginning was another pond that went into the waterfall and continued downstream, but you are still curious as to what lies beyond. You walk for a little longer and come across a little cabin in the woods, what could this be? As you take a closer look you realize that this is a cabin for hunters to go to and set up a sort of camp in the woods. There’s a bunch of old broken glass all over the cabin from what used to be windows, this cabin likely hasn’t been used in some time. You walk out and notice a rusted old hunk of metal sort of buried in the ground. Having no idea what this is you read the manufacturer label on the side, but you still have no idea. You later find out that this is an old printing press worth about $1,000. After returning home you feel completely refreshed from enjoying the nature around you. It truly is beautiful.

This isn't the waterfall that I was talking about, but it is a waterfall that I saw when I took a trip to Vermont.

 This is a personal example of a specific time that I appreciated nature. I appreciate nature every day, but not always to this extent. Nature is all around us, and it is truly amazing and beautiful.  If you live in a rural town like I did, go out for a walk and take in the nature around you. Pay attention not only to what you see, but what you hear and smell too. And follow your curiosity. For the people that live in the city, take a walk through the city and pay attention to the green areas like parks with a good amount of trees. You too can experience a piece of the beauty of nature. Nature is all around us. Now stop reading and go outside on this beautiful fall day!

-Eric Proulx