My happy place

Some people dream of being on a warm, sandy beach. Others envision themselves in a garden of wildflowers or cuddling up in a fluffy bed. Not me-- my happy place is the sound of my feet pounding beneath me, turning the dirt path ahead of me into the miles behind me. The trails are my sanctuary.

The University owns 1,000 acres behind my parents' house that is a part of the Horace Williams Estate, which is dedicated to preserving the natural environment of Chapel Hill. The trail ends in our back yard. I went creek walking with my friends as a child and started running the trails in high school. I know them like the back of my hand and am never, ever bored. I leave the house not knowing which way I will turn that day and am always overjoyed with the feeling of my legs burning, my heart pounding, and the sight of endless nature around every corner.

I've spent countless hours of my life on the trails. It's where I go when I'm happy, sad, indifferent, or anywhere in between. It's where I work out the problems of my life-- I step out the door with the weight of the world on my shoulders and do not return until it has lifted. In the peace and serenity of the trails, everything seems so simple.

The changing seasons are so exciting as spring blooms turn into summer leaves which fade into autumn foliage and fall into winter branches. There are certain smells associated with every season and if I smell them somewhere else, I am automatically transplanted in my mind to the trails. I feel like I'm so far away from everything when I'm back there because it is still so wild. I've seen owls, foxes, beavers, hawks, turtles, bunnies, copperheads, herons, and countless deer.

When there's trash, I pick it up because you don't leave garbage lying around your house. I was sad to see the trail widened and a bridge built. My hope is that it will provide greater access to the trails so that other people will fall in love with it, just as I have, and protect it. The washing machine was removed about four years ago, but the car is still there.

To me, it's more than just woods... It's what makes Chapel Hill the Southern part of Heaven.