First!

This was a week of many firsts. We had our first practicum meeting, our first exam, our first field trip (which was my first time at a National Park!), and got my first bee sting.

Our field trip to Shenandoah National Park was intense. When we entered the park, my eyes got wider as we drove. The scale of the park was both daunting and invigorating. We drove to the Big Meadow for our first hike.

View in the Big Meadow at Shenandoah State Park. Lots of warm season grass and goldenrods.

During our second hike of the day, I tripped and fell real hard. I bruised up my knee, but finished making my way up to the overlook. I took my seat and took out my binoculars. At first, I was so upset with myself because I thought I was just too dumb to figure out how to work them right, as I was still mad at myself for tripping and needing to take the trail slower than most of my classmates. My professor took a look at them and told me they were broken and not by anything I did. I realized how dumb it was for me to be upset with myself.

View from the Stonyman Outlook where we went birding.

The next day, I tried to be a bit kinder to myself. We took a long walk up to RaceTrack Hill and talked about the history of this facility and finally started to learn what is going on at this campus. We finished checking out the land management plots and went to take a look at the small cemetery of horses and family pets from before this was a Smithsonian facility. I stood under a tree to read an inscription, moved my hand to my hip, and then felt an intense stinging pain. I squealed and the professor whipped his head towards me to ask if I was stung. I looked at my hand and saw the stinger still in it, so I said "I guess so." My professor identified the stinger as that of a honey bee. As someone who has never been stung who has a family member allergic to yellow jackets, I was terrified. Luckily, I kept breathing. The sting got worse over the next few days, but as of writing this it is slowly calming down enough for me to hold a pencil.

On Saturday, I took my second trip to the National Park. A small group of students went hiking on a trail we couldn't find the name of. We found this water feature and found a small path that lead down to the bottom and decided to take it. My knees had a lot of issues handling it, but once I was down there it was worth having to travel both ways. Some of us looked for salamanders and other creatures, but I perched myself on a fallen tree and just listened and watched. I felt more at peace than I had been since January.

One view of the water feature we found.

This week made me consider how difficult it can be for a regular person to enjoy nature versus the benefits to be gained. The cost of entering the national park and the physical and mental strength it can take to experience the trails at their capacity can be a barrier to people entering the park and find their sense of calm.