Ancient Trails

I grew up in the Village of Bloomington when rainbow trout could be found in the "Crick". The place to be as a young boy. We would be in the woods most every day exploring every nook and cranny of the Crick and forest to the river, there was an amazing amount of wildlife. I was with my buddy Tim when going rock hunting in a big erosion ravine behind the rock bridge on Overlook when we found something odd. Tim showed it to his father who took it to the U of M. Tim got his photo in the Sun newspaper holding a nine-inch copper spearhead dated at 7000 by the U of M. We were ten years old, and this only enhanced our childhood adventures and imaginations. We thought that we discovered this enchanted place, but we were walking on ancient trails of the first native people, respect for Mother Earth is a way of life. My friend and I ventured upstream past Moir Park till it started to look civilized. There was an old man glaring at us walking the Crick with just cut-off jeans on, so we went back to our neck of the woods. I now am the old man mowing that grass in the same yard. This is the furthest I came upstream, and this is where I spawned and have lived on the Crick over 40 years and have witnessed the changes in the downgrade of aquatic life which saddens me. This Crick was and is a special, spiritual place of quiet beauty and should be respected and kept as is for the future children explorers.