The interesting sit-spot.

9-16-19 6:49pm-8:08pm

Have you ever tried to focus but the world won’t let you? That was my greeting to my sit-spot. Walking down the small drive-way in the corner of the west parking lot, lovingly known as Siberia, was a feeling of intense wonder and curiosity. The path was relatively straight, leading to the property straight out of a horror movie. Deciding that bird-watching was not the way I wanted to go, I retreated back into the wooded area of the path and sat in front of fallen branches with a view of the creek. Two massive trees framed this view, emitting a sense of symmetry that I adored. Being later, however, the sunset was framed to perfectly light the view, giving everything a golden glow. I sat in this spot for about 30 minutes before I fully focused, then it hit me.

The smell of a forest. The wet soil from the creek suddenly gave everything a cool scent, mingling with the trees’ sweet fragrance. The smell of wooded areas has always had a positive connotation to me, making me immediately fall calm as I sat. Small sparrows had grown comfortable to my presence and started to fly around the branches of the tall trees, perching and bending to pick at the branch. This confused me for a bit before a sudden “SNAP.” Sounded and I saw the silhouette of an object fall onto the ground in the brush. I was immediately apprehensive, as I could not identify what it was. Then, I could hear the knocking of something on the ground Infront of me, almost as if it was attempting to open what goodies fell. I didn’t investigate.

With the fright of the sudden commotion, I was relieved as I turned my head to see two dogs trotting up the pat I was sitting in, followed by their owner who shouted a “They’re friendly!” just before they rushed to let me pet them. I never asked for this man’s name, even if I should have, but he told me of the animals I could see in the area: Sea Otters, Great Blue Heron, and Deer. It was nice to hear that the area I had picked was active with wildlife, even if he only saw the otters once. He then continued on his walk, down the path to the “horror-house” to which he disappeared for a time.

The path was still active as I sat, hearing the birds chirp, woodpeckers peck, and one sound that sounded like a squeaky toy. After hearing this, I decided to record some of it, just for proof. I then started to stand as the sun got lower, not wanting to be out when it was dark when the man finally appeared again, coming back from the house, dogs in his tow. I let him walk far down the path as I stood and took in the scene for a final time. I then started to leave, far behind this mysterious man. When he turned the corner, I never saw him again.

Were this man and dogs a ghost? Defiantly not, I pet the dogs, I know they were real. Despite that mystical appearance, I truly think that my time in the sit-spot was worthwhile. It proved that the outskirts of campus were teeming with wildlife and had much to explore. I really look forward to my next time at the spot, hopefully, I can find the source of the squeaky toy sound. If not, at least the view is nice.