The Green Tunnel

Cedar Valley Nature Trail - Blackhawk County, Iowa

Today was an exceptionally pleasant walking day. The heat and humidity that has been sitting on eastern Iowa like a foggy elephant finally broke with high temperatures in the low eighties instead of the low nineties that have prevailed over the last week. 

On top of the more temperate weather, the majority to today’s route took through the green tunnel that is the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. The CVNT is a very small part of the American Discovery Trail that spans the country with trailheads at Cape Henlopen, Delaware and Limontaur Beach California.

“If the walking was so pleasant today, why didn’t you cross the country on the American Discovery Trail?” you might be asking. I don’t have a really good answer for that question. It’s a little longer covering a bit over forty-four hundred miles on the shortest coast to coast path. That’s probably the best justification I can come up with on short notice.

Anyway, today’s walk was traffic free and human interactions were mostly limited to  the very occasional bicycler. Only one other pedestrian vied with me for control of the path, but we managed to pass port to port quite amicably. Finally, Dad met me at the halfway point with some much appreciated ice cold water and Powerade. I could get used to that kind of logistics support. He’s making longer distances possible, and for that, I am truly grateful.

The sunlight trickled down through the leaves and dappled the ground with shadows and spots of light. Birds and squirrels chattered away. I saw frogs, rabbits, and a fair number of bugs. On that front, the lemongrass-vanilla compound paired with DEET kept them out of my face and hovering at an acceptable distance. For that, I am grateful.

My feet made the usual rhythmic scratch on the gravel surface with the occasional hollow thump when packed clay prevailed.

It was a day of serenity and reflection on a cool winding path that seemed to meander through both the past and the future. 

Change is always afoot, and I ended the day by coming off the Cedar Valley Nature Trail at La Porte, IA. I set myself up for a straight shot westward on the shadeless asphalt tomorrow.