The Other Half

"Oh crap," I muttered to myself after taking a final swig of coffee and preparing to get out of the car.

Like a total maroon I showed up at Morton Forest without any Deet. The previous time I was there my hike got cut short by rain and I suspected this one would be cut short by mosquitos. I resolved to at least walk the other half of the forest that I hadn't done last time.

Emerging from the car I was immediately enveloped by the wonderful bird song of the forest's winged denizens. The chirps and trills were so loud, so clear and pierced the trees as there was no other sound save the breeze. At home there's always the din of a highway lurking in the background so I felt like I was in a totally different place. And so I was. In addition to the sounds, there were the smells. The air was pungent with the woodland aromas. While it was after dawn, the sun was still nowhere close to rising above the trees.

Things were all bucolic for about 2 seconds before a swarm of mosquitos descended upon me. "Moving, got to keep moving," I thought with a hint of optimism.

I made my way past the ever photogenic windmill to the path which would take me up the ridge on the northwestern part of the park. 

As I walked I could hear the buzzing of skeeters hovering around my ears looking for an opportunity to take breakfast. When I stopped, a cloud of them would suddenly appear in front of my face within a second. I began to fear I'd be completely exsanguinated before making it to the top of the ridge.

The mosquitos were annoying, to say the least, and I think I got as much exercise shooing them away and smashing the ones that landed on me as I did walking. On the plus side, they did a good job of distracting me from the myriad of thoughts I was wrestling with concerning my impending divorce.

I hoofed it rather quickly to one of the lookout points.

It was gorgeous.

Too bad I couldn't stand there and admire it for long.

The sun had risen enough to make some lovely areas of light and shade in the pines that line the path below the ridge.