Nature Walk

Today, I thought I would take a step back from the technical aspects of environmental issues and talk about the aesthetics. I took a walk with my 4-year-old this past weekend. It was a picture-perfect day: sunny, blue sky with wispy clouds, about 55 degrees F. Quin decided he wanted to go down ‘the short end of Parrish.’ To orient you, we live in Conneaut, Ohio, and we walked from Daniels Avenue north on south Parrish Road to where it dead ends at Conneaut Creek.

There is now a campground down in the flood plain of the creek here (locally known as Bluebell), which is private property, but the public road still leads to the frame of the old metal bridge that used to carry vehicles across the creek to Route 20 (warning to those of you who rely on on-line mapping – many still show Parrish going through, but it hasn’t done so in a long time).

The bridge is located at a large bow in the creek, where shallow riffles are interspersed with deeper pools. The bridge deck is gone, but the metal skeleton remains, and is currently supporting a huge old sycamore that was partially uprooted during a wind storm. If the bridge hadn’t been there, the tree would likely have gone all the way over, its stretching branches reaching across the creek, creating a change in the course of the waterway over time. But, since the bridge is there, this didn’t happen. Quin was fascinated by the partially-exposed roots of the sycamore, which will likely cling to life for a few more decades with the help of that old bridge.

While we were walking the bow, Quin made friends with several stream fishers. Conneaut Creek is a ‘hot spot’ for steelhead fishing, making it a popular destination for anglers. It is a beautiful waterway, heavily wooded along much of its length, with the bed cut into shale bedrock. As a result, it is a great place to go fossil hunting; Quin and I found several fossils, though they didn’t interest him any more than finding a neat erratic rock, or a big slab to throw in the water to make an impressive ‘kerplunk!’ The thinner pieces of shale are great for skipping across the deep pools, too. The anglers probably didn’t appreciate the noise we made, but there is no containing the energy of a 4-year-old!

We even met a mating pair of Canadian geese. The male was a spitfire, and puffed out his chest and flapped his wings at us when we got too close. Quin thought that was hilarious, so I guess the intimidation bit just doesn’t work on an energetic pre-schooler. I felt kind of sorry for the poor preening goose, but in the end we moved on, so hopefully he felt he had successfully defended his territory - even if Quin did laugh at his show!

In general, in this section of the creek, the water is crystal clear, so you can almost always see the bottom (except after a heavy rain, when sediment loading is high). In warmer weather, the creek is teeming with insects, crawdads, tadpoles, etc. and we looked, but I think it was too cold yet to find those creatures. We’ll be back when it gets a bit warmer. We hoped to see a few fish, given the number of anglers we met, but though we thought we heard one or two jump we never did catch site of the elusive fish. We did scare up a few spiders when picking up rocks, though.

Our walk along with Creek was a grand adventure for Quin and I. It reminded me of Winnie the Pooh and his adventures in the 100-acre wood. It was fun to watch Quin discover all the things I take for granted. Taking a nature walk with a young child is a real eye-opening experience – I highly recommend it. It will reawake your wonder in the natural world around you. Next time, I must remember to take the camera, so we can share our adventure in pictures!

One down-note: Quin and I did decide that the next time we take a walk down to the Creek, we would need to bring a trash bag. It’s amazing the detritus of human existence that finds its way into nature. You want my honest opinion, I think we should spend less time worrying about how much carbon dioxide we respirate as a species, and start taking care of our trash.

And when I say taking care of it, I don’t mean just bagging it up and burying it in a landfill, but really taking care of it: mandate community recycling programs; demand reduced packaging in our food supply; and for heaven’s sake, when you visit a natural area, carry your trash out with you and dispose of it properly!

Sorry, couldn’t avoid a mini-rant about the trash, but I ended up with both hands full – couldn’t carry any more out, and had to leave quite a bit behind. Seems sad that a trash bag is a necessary accessory on a nature walk, don’t you think?


Note of interest regarding Conneaut Creek:
In 2005, a 21-mile stretch of Conneaut Creek (including where Quin and I visited) from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border to the former Penn Central Railroad bridge in the City of Conneaut was named a State Scenic River, and the portion of that section that is upstream of the Creek Road Bridge crossing, also carries the ‘Wild’ designation. To learn more about Conneaut Creek’s designation and special features that resulted in this designation see the Ohio Department of Natural Resources web page on Ohio’s Scenic River Program . For information about Conneaut Creek clean up activities, visit the Friends of Conneaut Creek - there's also additional information and links regarding the wild and scenic designation here, and some great photos taken along the length of the creek.