A go to to the Cathance River Nature Preserve in Topsham will enable you to take into account the past, the future and how to keep grounded in the present. Only a 10-minute drive from campus, the protect options miles of riverside trails winding by way of rising forests. It is unlikely you’ll cross paths with many others.
When following the instructions to the trailhead, you could be confused as to why you’re being guided by way of the Highlands Retirement Community. At first, I assumed I used to be going to the improper place as a result of the trailhead is straightforward to miss and the adjoining parking zone solely suits about 5 vehicles (if squeezed in at an angle to the highway). But the waves of Highlands residents on their every day walks are a reminder {that a} sense of group extends past the areas of Bowdoin’s bodily campus.
The Preserve presents sufficient trails to probe for hours, however it’s equally stunning in the event you solely have a couple of minutes to spare. This go to, I made a decision to stroll down the staircase subsequent to the parking zone and proceed till I reached the Highland path, passing by way of the vernal swimming pools.
From this level, the path to the river is not more than 10 minutes. After a semester of shuffling my ft on the ice throughout campus, stepping over small patches of mud was a welcome shock. As I moved nearer to the river, an abundance of inexperienced moss on the forest ground creeped up on me.
The mild flickered brighter in the areas the place younger saplings have but to develop, and in areas with white pines thick with age, just a few sunbeams move by way of their needles. This forest will not be uniform and the path will not be straight—mimicking the collision of many generations.
After scanning a QR code posted on one among the saplings, I understand that the code is one among many scattered all through the trails of the Preserve. The codes are part of a “Self-Guided Adventure” initiative by the Cathance River Education Alliance, a nonprofit environmental and academic group. Walking down the path, this community of codes invitations me to concentrate to my environment and jogs my memory of the Alliance’s efforts to additional group engagement.
One QR code attributes the range of tree ages in the forest to a scattered timeline of logging on the land, explaining that the youthful saplings have been planted after the most up-to-date logging efforts in the Nineties. The historical past of logging in Maine appears inextricable from our pure environment, reminding guests to admire and help the conservation efforts from organizations like the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust.
These woods supply bodily distance from a busy life and an opportunity to admire connections throughout generations, whether or not that be ecologically or socially. When I arrive at the river, the faint sound of the light water and a soothing cover of shade returns me to the present second. As I watch the swell of the present beside me and after stepping away from a campus buzzing with youth and driving by way of a group of senior residents, my sense of place is amplified.
This week, I noticed the faces of my professors for the first time since arriving at Bowdoin final yr. After two semesters with out upperclass college students on campus and the presence of Covid-19 continually on my thoughts, I’ve longed for a way of cross-generational cohesion in the Bowdoin group. With an ease of connection returning to campus, the hyperlinks that convey us collectively really feel stronger. The Cathance River Nature Preserve presents an opportunity to discover this sense of interrelation, or to merely get pleasure from the outside.
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