Where is fall going? ~ September 30, 1999

David Heiller

Cindy called me at 4:30 last Wednesday afternoon, September 22. “Let’s go for a walk at Banning,” she said.

It had been a busy day at work for us, and a busy night was planned, with one of us to pick up our son from football practice and the other to attend a confirmation meeting with our daughter.

But we needed that walk at Banning State Park. We only had an hour to spare. How could we not afford to spare it on a fall walk?

A walk in the woods is ALWAYS a good plan.

“Sounds great,” I told Cindy, and in half an hour we were there, Cindy and Mollie and me, on the familiar trail heading toward the Kettle River.

The air had that fall hue to it, of sunlight filtered through red and orange and yellow. A couple of hard frosts had knocked back the bugs. A few leaves lay on the trail, but not so thick that we kicked them up. The trees hadn’t dropped a lot of leaves. That’s happening right now.

We walked hand in hand in hand, three abreast, on the wide trail. Mollie jabbered about school and friends and TV shows. Cindy duti­fully answered. I mostly kept quiet, enjoying the silence of the woods that lay just beyond our words.

Eventually Mollie’s talking dwindled. We settled into hiking conversation. People talk differently on a walk. Words don’t fall so fast or so loud. Periods of silence don’t feel awkward.

We came to the river and watched the water flow swiftly past. “This is the same water that goes under the Kettle River bridge by our house,” I said, trying to impress the ladies. They nodded politely.

We walked past a big kettle, which is a hole in the rocks worn by water and stones. “My Headstart kids used to play in that kettle,” Cindy said.

A walk in the woods.

Banning Park is full of memories like that, of walks and picnics with people come and gone.

We walked almost to Hell’s Gate. The trail rose and fell sharply. Mollie went ahead of us, a sure-footed teenager. I offered a hand to Cindy, and she took it gratefully.

I checked my watch. Time to turn around. All three of us had appointments to keep.

We met two other parties on the trail back, a man and woman, and a group of women. We all said hello. Their smiles said that they were enjoying the later afternoon walk as much as we were.

When we got to the parking lot, Mollie headed to the car to sit and listen to her favorite radio station. Cindy and I had 10 more min­utes, so we walked on a bit, just the two of us, like the old days. It was very nice.

Our walk in the park ended too soon. But we were lucky to have done it. It hadn’t been planned. That made it even more fun.

Fall is a good time to be in the woods, to be outside period, hunting, fishing, working in the garden. The sad part is that it goes by so fast. Where is this fall going? October starts on Friday!

I wish time could stand still. It doesn’t, so we have to take advantage of those little cracks in our day when we can escape to Banning or Mud Lake or the road outside our house.

I’m sure a walk in the woods will feel differently this week. Colors are at their peak. Leaves are raining down. Guess I’ll have to find out.