Take a walk in the woods—and soon! ~ October 4, 1990

David Heiller

If you’ve got a spare hour or a spare day, take a walk in the woods, and do it soon. Our family tramped around Banning State Park on Monday of this week. Cindy’s sister, Nancy, had been looking after Mollie, so she packed a lunch and we met at Banning for a picnic and hike.

We spread tuna fish on crackers and cut up a couple of homegrown tomatoes and had a meal that fit the day like a glove, pretty and simple and good for you.

Then we hiked, following the Kettle River south toward Sandstone. Other people had the same idea. Usually Banning is deserted during the week, but not last Monday. We saw a young man sleeping on a picnic table, using his knapsack as a pillow and using the sun as a blanket. We pulled over as another guy met us coming up a narrow, rocky trail. We saw several couples, young and old.

The sun moved in and out from its skirt of cotton clouds. When it shone, it warmed us like toast, and when it didn’t we walked a bit faster to keep the chill away. Mostly it shone, and soon Nancy and Mollie had handed their coats to Cindy to carry.

A different hike in Banning:
 Nancy watching Noah and Malika enjoy the park.

Underfoot, maple and poplar and birch leaves had created a bright walkway of yellow and red, some bright red like candy, others mottled with yellow, as if someone had poured on a bit of yellow paint before the red had dried.

Above, the leaves filtered the sun into a warm yellow glow. The air had that fall smell, dry and crackling, of leaves on the ground and vegetation that is turning in for the winter: A smell of squirrel hunting from my younger days.

We found a cluster of four pine cones on the ground from a Norway pine, with needles still attached. “Noah can bring it to show and tell,” I said, handing it to Cindy, the official carrier of things. He’s been bringing things like that for the past week to his first grade class.

Noah was in school while we walked, and I thought how much he would be enjoying this. Not that he doesn’t like school, but he’s chafing a bit from the daily schedule and he would take a hike in the park any day, as would most kids, and most teachers. Unfortunately, life isn’t that logical.

Mollie has a year of freedom left, every other day at least, and we all made the most of it on Monday. She led us on, wanting to take every spur she discovered to the edge of the river so she could toss in the “sparkly” rocks she’d found.

Mollie likes to edge close to any sheer drop-off that will scare us. She knows, like all five-year-olds, what makes Mom and Dad nervous. And how do you as a parent try to act nonchalant as your daughter stands on the lip of a rock that is 30 feet straight above one of the most dangerous rivers in Minnesota? Let’s just say that we held her hand a lot.

We saw a lot of beauty on the trip, us and the others who meandered along the Banning trails on a sunny October morning. The trip made our day. And later that night, as I drove home from a school board meeting, I found myself grinning again, feeling the sun, smelling the leaves.

That’s what parks and fall and families are all about.