Locust Ridge Preserve

A county-managed preserve about forty minutes from the house. Three loop trails, one out-and-back to the overlook, and a stretch of meadow that the mowing schedule treats with mercy. The parking lot fits maybe thirty cars and is rarely full, even on a Sunday.

M. and I have been hiking here for years. The out-and-back to the overlook is our default; we have done the loop trails, but the loop trails go through more rhododendron than view. The overlook itself is not dramatic. It is a wooden bench at the edge of a clearing that looks east over a small valley with a creek you cannot quite see, only hear when the wind drops.

I can think there in a way I cannot at the kitchen table. I do not know if that is the trail or the trees or the not-being-at-home, but the difference is consistent enough that I have stopped questioning it.