John W. Garbutt- Class of 2019
It is a place that you wake at 0100 for so you can arrive before sunrise. At dawn, you set out on the trail, the day’s trailblazer, the brim of your hat cobwebbed. Canyon Wrens great the day with song. An elk bugles in the distance. You parallel the creek as a steady of stream of beavers and a pair of raccoons head home for the day. Wood Ducks protest your presence with their flight calls as you have disturbed their solitude, though you are only seeking your own.
A Northern Flicker’s harsh single note call accompanies the kingfisher’s rattle as they fly back and forth along the waterway. Red-headed Woodpeckers churr and Eastern Phoebes call their kin’s name. You pause to watch the sun crest the granite rocks above. Then a Rufous-crowned Sparrow snaps you out of the moment as it flies within arm’s reach. You spot an American Kestrel perched in the distance on the tree in which you are headed. Then the bugle of an elk, the sound for which you came, propels you along the trail as the damp waist high grass brushes against you.
As you begin the climb toward your favorite spot, you pause to examine the charred reminders fire has left upon the landscape. Somewhere within the brush a Spotted Towhee calls you forward. After cresting the hill, you continue to the tree, the one that has captivated you for years. It lays on its side near another one, so far from any other trees. You rub your hands along the charred ends then the smooth bark worn through years of the prairie wind’s relentless onslaught. You feel a kindred connection to the tree.
You finally arrive at your favorite spot to sit and look over the expanses in the morning chill and during the day’s first light. You’ve sought solitude and solace here for years and now you long to share it with her. The unseen meadowlarks sing as you scan for deer, elk, longhorn, and bison, as you eventually close your eyes to take it all in. It is a favorite place, and this is mine, the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge.
Where is a favorite place that you would wake early for to start your day?
