Elizabeth Watkins - Our Trip to Noland Trail

On Tuesday, our class took the day to go over to Noland Trail and explore. I had never been there before and did not know what to expect. When the professor dropped off the first car load and told us to walk towards the field next to the river, I was really surprised at what I thought of the place. The river was absolutely beautiful. The waves lapped onto the shore and the setting was so serene. If you looked past the shore you could see a blob of trees across shore that were so far away that it made the river seem almost endless. After walking that path, we all came together and the class as a whole began on the Noland Trail. I learned a lot about nature. I was surprised at the things that Dr. Redick picked up on that I would never have noticed. He told us that we could really learn from a place and learn its story if we just listen and observe and think about what we see and how it got there. For example, Dr. Redick picked up a branch and shook the dead fall leaves that made an interesting musical sound. He then asked if we would expect to hear that sound from leaves in the spring. The answer was most definitely not. However, I never would have picked up on something like that on my own. This trip taught me to look at our natural world in a different way. I can learn a lot from just observing and really get to know the world around me.