Don’t Be a Statistic
This past week we spent some time in Hocking Hills, Ohio, celebrating our twenty years of marriage. It wasn't the actual anniversary date, but it was a week that worked well for all of our schedules, as the kids would be spending a week at camp.
Almost every year our kids go to a choral camp close to Columbus. Every year I scratch my head and wonder, what would possess anyone to send their kids to a music camp. But we've been doing it for awhile now. The kids have always loved it. I'm pretty sure that it has more to do with the water battles, shaving cream fights, and other things that make for a fun camp, than the actual music. A neat thing is, as the campers get too old for the camp, they are invited back as staff.
Aiyana was actually a counselor this year and Caleb was helping with the dirty work of doing dishes and game prep and such. Even though they aren't "campers", they still have lots of fun, getting back together with friends that they've made over the years. The good part for us is, with Blake being the only official camper in the family this year, it has become a little more affordable. And so Jenelle and I took some time for a vacation.
The working staff needed to be at the camp on Sunday, so we dropped the older two kids off and then went and stayed with my niece and her family in Columbus. Monday morning we headed back to the camp to drop off our camper and then Jenelle and I headed south to Hocking Hills. We had rented a little cabin for the week. It turned out to be a neat little cabin out in the country with its own little pond and hot tub. And so we settled in for a week of living like retired folk. Well, we didn't have any doctor appointments so really, I guess it doesn't compare. But we did have a great week of hiking, canoeing, grilling, and just spending time together. Although we miss our kids when they aren't around, it felt really good and refreshing to have the week to be together, just the two of us, without all of the busyness of home life going on. And we were able to have our alone time too, reading, hanging out, and watching all the birds. I even caught a couple of small bass in the pond that was beside the cabin. Each day we took some sort of outing.
One day we went canoeing on the Hocking River. It was a struggle to find shuttle service, and there are no Uber drivers in the area, so we just did a trip alongside a commercial outfitter. They shuttled us and our canoe up the river and were great to work with, but the trip was shorter than we hoped. The River was slow and lazy and the sun was hot, and the water felt great just to dangle your feet in, over the side of the canoe.
The other days we hiked. There is lots of hiking in the area. Most of the trails are shorter with lots of rocks, cliffs and caves to check out along the way. We did most of the popular ones like Old Man's Cave, Whispering Cave, and Rock House. For the most part, there were too many people for my liking, but seeing the magnitude and the wonder of all the geological features in the area was worthwhile. My favorite was actually the easiest and least visited of them all. Conkle Hollow is a trail that goes a half mile or so up into a hollow that ends with towering walls and a trickle of water that falls from above. This is a nature preserve and so the trail is basically a sidewalk consisting of concrete and some wooden boardwalk that keeps people on the trail for the most part. At the end of the sidewalk is a little bit of actual trail that will allow you to get right under the cliffs and rocks. Everything is pretty much left as is and the beauty of the ferns and green moss and the towering hemlocks against the enormous cliffs and overhanging rocks can't be beat!
If you're in the area with limited time or if your knees and joints don't flex like they used to, these are rocks to see! There are even a couple of benches along the way to give you a rest if you want. The trail is handicap accessible and pretty much flat.
There is also a two and a half mile trail around the rim, at the top, that isn't quite so easy and not quite as beautiful, in my opinion. But it does have the element of adventure. There are lots of signs along the way that read, "Danger! Stay on Designated Trails. Don't become a statistic". I pondered that for a while. Everyone is part of some sort of statistic!
If you look it up, there are lots of statistics about Hocking Hills. Depending on which statistic you look at, there are between three and five million people who visit Hocking Hills each year! Wow! There are fifty nine miles of hiking trails in Hocking Hills. Three people have died from falls in the last five years. I couldn't find a statistic on how many birds live in Hocking Hills, but there are lots of them. Here is a list of some of the birds that you might find there; Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Magnolia Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Pine Siskin.
I love birds but wouldn't call myself a professional birder. When it comes to identifying them, I struggle, especially when just going by their song.
As we were hiking along the rim trail, everything was still and quiet and there weren't any other people around. But there was a bird that kept singing this most beautiful tune, and it kind of echoed off of the rocks and trees and filled the canyon like it was some special cathedral, made just for us.
I couldn't help but take note of the contrast of being an individual, like that bird singing free and loud, way up high in a tree somewhere, or just being a statistic.
And I get it, the signs were there to encourage us to be careful.
But I liked the birds' song better!
I could hear it clearly, "be an individual, be an individual"!
