A Place

            Today, I want to step back and reflect on not solely a single experience but a rather a place. One that left a feeling of wildness in my soul. The area is in Northeastern Iowa where my mother was born and raised. I have visited there with my dad on several occasions, typically to hunt and fish for trout. With bluffs that rise from the ground as well as winding streams and rivers that flow beneath them, it is certainly one of the most scenic parts of the state. Over the last year I have returned by myself to this area a couple times as I traveled to and from Iowa. Each time, I spent one night camping in the Yellow River State Forest which is an 8500 acre piece of land that is full of places to camp and hike. The second time I went was July of 2016.

When I arrived at the campground I was happy to see that there were plenty of open sites and that I would be able to have some solitude for the evening. The following day I was going to be continuing my drive down to a Christian youth camp to be a counselor where I would most certainly not have much time to myself during that week. After parking my car I began setting up my tent, hammock and whatever else I would need for the night. After a restful evening of walking along the trout stream, reading in my hammock and siting by the campfire I went to bed for the night listening to the crisp, high-pitched howls of the coyotes as they as they sang their goodnights to one another. I doubt this was because they were going to bed but rather their night had only just begun.

When I woke up the following morning there was not a stir in the air. As I was deep down in the valley, surrounded by rising hills covered with the thick foliage of a hardwood forest the wind was very seldom felt from where I was staying. Before the sun had made its presence fully known I began to pack up camp. There was not a peep that came from any of the other campsites as I finished loading the car. The only noises came from the music of the song birds and the gurgling of the stream as it rushed over rocks polished by this constant flow of water. I was not in a hurry to leave this place, I just wanted to experience this state forest in its true beauty.

I slowly drove over the gravel road past the tents and campers that housed the still sleeping families. I drove down the road about half a mile and started my ascent up to one of the highest points in the area. Half way up the hill a white-tailed doe stopped in the middle of the road in front of me. Her red summer coat perfect in the low-light of dawn. I drove closer and she walked into the woods a few yards, turned around and looked at me as I rolled down the window to take some photos. Eventually we were force to part ways and I continued my slow drive up the steep, washed-out road. When I reached the end of the road I was relieved to see that no one else had beat me, I had the spot and all its beauty to myself. The site was simply a lookout point that was situated on a bluff that overlooked the main valley of the state forest. I opened my trunk, got out my mini stove, some water and a freeze dried package of biscuits and gravy. Thanks to my early start I was in no hurry, I had the next 10 hours to make a two hour drive, so here in Creation I took my sweet time. As I sat with my legs dangling over the bluff, looking out across the valley into a stream certainly full of rainbow and brook trout, I made breakfast.

That morning, I could have ground up dead sticks to eat and that meal would still have been one my favorites. As I prepared breakfast I could hear the soft yelps of a hen turkey as her and her flock moved through the woods foraging for food. On the edge of the field below me I saw a doe and her two newborn fawns headed to the creek for a cool drink of water. The birds continued to praise the new morning, singing to everything that it represents. In this moment of solitude, filling my stomach with the warm, salty mush that is freeze dried foods, I am convinced that close to nothing could have made it better. There was no sense of time, nor was my head full of tasks and items that I needed to accomplish. I had the luxury of being able to sit back and enjoy what God has provided for us and what the public lands of this country are able to preserve.

As I picked up my trash, began to put away my camera and stove the sun continued to rise. The magic of dawn was gone, it was time to start the day. The birds stopped singing but were now off foraging for food. The doe and her fawns would certainly be looking for a place to lie by now. For me it was time to leave this place. I drove awfully slow as I left that state forest. Taking in all that it had to offer. Believe me when I say that this is no national park or wilderness area, one must long to see just what this landscape has to offer. But, when you find it, that something resonates deep within your soul, there is no other place that you would rather be.

Driving out of the valley I realized why this place means so much to me and hopefully others as well. Everywhere around that forest is agricultural land. Corn and soybeans dominate the Iowan landscape in just about every part of the start including Northeastern Iowa. When one drives down into the Yellow River State Forest it is like taking a step back in time away from the row crops and farmhouses. The preservation of this landscape provides people the opportunity to experience a little piece of the wild that is simply absent from much of our daily lives and also from much of my home state of Iowa. We have no Yellowstone or Boundary Waters Canoe Area or Everglades. All it takes is a little 8500 acre piece of multiple use land to satisfy the desire to find God simply by being in Creation. Having experiences in places like this gives a person the ability not only to reflect back on something beautiful but also something to look forward to again in the future.