Episode 1444 – Leaf Peep Creek | Walk With Me
SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time for the podcaster who’s gonna be peeping leaves, walking in wet leaves, and talking you to sleep. This is a on-location episode. I think we put these out of season 'cause I record them ahead of time. So, this will give you a little taste of autumn and fall if you're missing it. Yeah, that crow said, fall, fall, fall, I think? I don't think it said…yeah, the crows are pumping up fall. I’m in…oh, welcome to Sleep With Me, the podcast that’s here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff so you could fall asleep. From time to time we do hiking, walking, on-location episodes, and that’s what this is gonna be. So, you're gonna hear me going through wet leaves and walking, and yeah, we’ll just see how it goes. I’m off…I’m out in the woods in fall after a rain. There’s a chill in the air. There’s leaves falling from the trees.
It’s my first East Coast fall, so I didn't know what to expect or how to time these leaf-peeping episodes, and I think 'cause the weather’s been inconsistent, the falling of leaves has kinda been inconsistent. But I’m catching it, and I’m actually catching it at a good time 'cause there’s a lot of leaves on the ground. Oh, but by the way, welcome to Sleep With Me. This is a podcast…if you're new, you might be like, wait a second, what’s happening? I thought this was a sleep podcast. Sounds like you're hiking, and I can hear the pitter-patter of raindrops on the leaves. It’s like…this is pretty nice, huh? We're together doing this. But if you're new, just give this show a few tries. We put out a variety of styles of shows. We put out these kind of episodes. We put out ones that we record in the studio. So, see how it goes. This is a friend in the deep, dark night to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff so you could sleep versus just putting you to sleep. So, it does sometimes take some getting used to.
What we have tonight coming up…we’ll have some support after this; that’s how the show comes out to everybody. It used to be once upon a time we did these on-location episodes…we only put them out to paying subscribers. But, I don't know, this show is for everybody, and the way we do it for everybody, though, is that…when the people that benefit the most support the sponsors and the show directly. So, if you're new or you only listen from time to time or you're not really in a place where you could support something, that’s totally fine because the people…when the people that do benefit, that do love the show support it, it’s here for everybody else. That’s just something I’ve always strived with this podcast. Yeah, so, we’ll have support coming up, then a meandering intro meant to ease you into bedtime while I’m walking — it may be a little bit quicker than our normal intros — and then I’ll just continue to narrate this walk in the woods. So, I’m really glad you're here.
I work really hard, I yearn and I strive, and I really want to help you fall asleep. Thanks again for coming by or coming back. If this podcast changes your nights, changes your days on a regular basis, if you could please consider…just consider supporting one of the sponsors of the show, that’s really the only way we’re able to be here for you but also for everybody else. So, just consider it, and here’s the things you could consider. Thanks.
Intro: Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press Play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is talk while I tie my shoe, which just happens to rhyme. It’s pretty funny because…yes, I’m here tying my shoe. I make a…welcome…are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Turns out, I can't chew gum or make a sleep podcast and tie my shoe at the same time, but I’m gonna tie my shoe while I talk, and…my boot, my rainboot, actually. Are you up all night…? welcome to Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press Play. I’m gonna do the rest.
What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake. That could be thoughts, things on your mind about the past, the present, the future, it could be feelings, anything coming up for you emotionally or left over from the day, physical sensations, changes in time, temperature, routine, whatever it is. You could be in the middle of something, you could be getting over something. I’m here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff so you could fall asleep. The reason I make the show…I’ve been there, and I hear from listeners all the time that I’ve been where you are right now. Whatever it is that brought you to the show, there is someone listening right now that’s been there, or in some place pretty similar, and they're hoping the best for you right now. That’s why I make the show. It’s not just me; it’s all the people that listen to the show, and we share something here in the deep, dark night.
I think one of the things we share is a desire for relief and comfort, a deep desire, especially when we can't sleep, so that you, if you're listening and you're new or you're coming back, you could get the rest you need so your life is more manageable tomorrow, and you deserve that. That’s why I make the show. What I do is I send my voice across the deep, dark night. I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents. So, I’m gonna go off topic, I’m gonna get mixed up, then I’ll forget what I was talking about, or I’ll be…supposed to be going on a hike through nature, and I’ll talk about something totally unrelated. So, just see how it goes, 'cause this show does take some getting used to. That’s what most people — when they become regular listeners — say; hey, it takes two or three tries, or it took me two or three tries, 'cause at first when I got here I was expecting some…I was skeptical. I was doubtful.
I was just trying to find something to help me fall asleep, and you were just talking about…not nothing but almost nothing, and it was just confusing. Then the second time I was like, I thought this was a sleep podcast. Where’s the bells and…? Oh, there’s some natural bells out there, the birds. Or, birds are different than bells. Yeah, they're gonna start taking exception to that. Beautiful sounds, but you're talking over them, man. I say, yeah, this show is…it’s different. On the third time what happens — if the show is a fit, or the second time; for some people the fourth time — they just fall asleep, and they wake up and they say, oh, now I get it. He was just walking along narrating something, and I could pay attention but I don't need to pay attention. So, just give the show a few tries and see how it goes. If you find out or you already know the podcast isn't for you…I mean, I would say try one more episode, 'cause not all our episodes are me walking in the woods.
But yeah, just…oh, if you figure out it’s not for you after you listen two or three tries, or, yeah, you're already 100% sure we're not a fit, that’s totally okay. I have a website set up for you; sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou. That has other sleep podcasts and sleepy stuff on there that should be able to help you fall asleep. If you give the show a few tries, here’s a couple things to know; one, this is a podcast you just barely listen to. I don't know if you could hear that sound. There’s rain hitting something, and then there’s also the sound of wind or a road. That reminds me of home, that cars-on-a-wet-road sound, which…I think that’s what that is, but it could be wind. I’m not a sleep expert and not a sound expert, either. So, give the show a few tries. See how it goes. What was I talking about?
Oh, it’s a podcast you just barely listen to, kind of like background noise that…you could listen to it…that you kinda pay attention to but you don't need to pay attention to it; a out-of-focus picture, a show streaming under your pillow, or a friend talking to you about their walk in real time and saying, okay, you want me to count the…? I don't think I could count the leaves around me 'cause there’s hundreds and hundreds of thousands, probably. Then you'd say, well, that’s an assumption. Why don't you start counting…? Well, then what do I do, create a grid area? Yeah. Well, you just keep talking about that while I sleep. So, yeah, it’s a show. You can listen to it but you don't need to listen. It’s also a sleep podcast. I’m not really here to put you to sleep. There’s no pressure to fall asleep at all. That’s why the shows are over an hour. That’s why there’s so many different styles of shows, 600+ shows in this listener, ad-supported version that you could listen to, create your favorite playlists or whatever, because there’s no pressure to fall asleep.
There’s people listening who can't sleep at all. My job is to keep them and you or somebody that needs a break during the day or somebody that just woke up in the middle of the night…to keep them company whether they're awake or asleep, whether you're listening or not. I’ll be here to the very end to keep you company. That’s a bit different, right? I don't just put you to sleep. I’m your bore-friend, your bore-bae, your bore-sib, your neigh-bore, your bore-bie, your boreman, your Boris Borelaf. I’m here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff whether you're awake or asleep, to hang with you, your chairman of the boreds, your peeper of leaves, in this case, your listener…your irter of birds. I’m a bird irder. I’m not a bird herder; I’m a ird birder. Did you just order a ird burger? No; I said I’m a ird birder. An ird burger? No, a burg irder. Sorry. Yeah, so, that’s pretty much what you can expect with this show. What else do you need to know? Really quick is the structure of the show.
The show follows a pretty specific structure, even when in the woods, because it’s just what works for the maximum amount of people it can. But I like to meet you where you are if you're new or you're coming back so that I can meet you where you are and you know why we do the things we do, and then you could adjust from there if it doesn't work for you. So, the show starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. That’s meant to make you feel seen and welcomed in. You get the nature of the show and you say, oh, okay, I could check that out. Or, eh, I don't think I will check that out. So, that’s what the intro — the teaser, we call it — is supposed to do. Oh, okay, it’s a welcoming. I guess it’s a welcome, not a teaser, and you feel welcomed in. Then there’s support so that paying for the show is optional. Like I said earlier, it really comes down to the people that benefit the most or are the biggest fans of the podcast or that have strong opinions about the show.
When they support the podcast, then it blossoms out from there, and so many other people can listen to it for free versus it just being something you buy or pay for. It’s just…it’s just a nice thing, right? These on-location episodes…or the reason we only used to do it for subscribers is 'cause, yeah, the ads might be a little more disruptive with the on-location episodes. But that way, anybody can listen. They don't have to pay for it. So, it’s kind of like…I don't know, that’s the way we look at it. I make the podcast that puts you to sleep, and how can that help the most amount of people? So, if you find you start listening to the show and develop opinions, you prefer something without ads, you can get that on Sleep With Me+. But you could also listen to this free, ad-supported version, particularly if you come and go to the show or you're new. But that’s what the support does. Then separate from the support is this intro. Normally the intros are like, fifteen to twenty minutes long.
This one, I have no idea how long it is 'cause I’m not…I’m hiking and I have my poles. So, I’ll check, but I’m guessing we're around ten minutes. The intro is meant to introduce the podcast to people but also to ease you into bedtime, to kinda have a setting of the sun or a wind-down. So, while there is a small percentage of people that listen to the show that fall asleep fast, most people don't. Most people wind down or get ready for bed or get in bed and get comfortable. So, that’s how the intro is designed, to be a part of your wind-down routine, and that’s what works for me personally and what most solid sleep advice talks about, having a wind-down routine. So, that’s what the intro is there for. What else? The intro…then there will be support, and then I’ll just continue on talking about being in the woods. Yeah, all told, we’ll be here about a hour to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff. Yeah, just see how it goes. I’m really glad you're here. Did I forget anything?
I feel like I did, but that’s okay. Being forgetful is part of making a sleep podcast, too. I’m really glad you're here. I work really hard — so do a team of people — to bring you the show. We yearn and strive to help you fall asleep. If this show does help you out night after night, year after year, episode after episode, or you just love this podcast and love the idea of it or you can't find something similar, please consider either supporting or sponsor our show, and here’s the ways you could do that. Thanks.
Alright, it’s Scoots, and I’m back. I never went anywhere. I’m in the woods. There’s a chill in the air. It’s about 2:00 p.m., a little bit after 2:00 p.m., in late October. It had rained, or it’s been raining on and off, which is probably pretty standard for this environment. I’ve been trying to time doing one-or-two hike…leaf-peeping episodes, but the weather, it does tend to be unpredictable. I was like, okay, when the stuff I use is not waterproof…I don't even think it’s water-resistant. So, it’s just been a matter of timing, and I think I picked a good time. The only thing I’d like to try is if we get a couple days or more of dryness to come and go through these leaves when they're dry. I don't know if that would be a possibility or not. But right now there’s a bed of leaves, there’s…I’m in the woods, and I’m alongside…I’m in these woods that are…I don't know, what do you call it? Like a drainage basin.
It’s woods, so what is the difference between woods and forest? To me, woods are…it’s not necessarily a park, and it’s behind people’s houses and stuff, but it’s a pretty big area that I’ve been exploring since I got here, and exploring…like going on trail runs, which is one of the things I love doing, which also helps me scout out areas for episodes. So, it’s not remote, right? But it feels remote. You can even hear those cars, but not far away. But just like the East Bay parks, even though this isn't a park…it’d be pretty cool. I think it’s probably plots of land owned by a large…a lot of different people. So, that’s why it’s a pretty sweet area, because there’s these little canyons and creek beds, and there’s ferns, and they're dry. Even after it rains they're still pretty dry, and I think these creek beds only serve for the snow melt in the spring that comes down this way out of the hills of the town of Onondaga, I think. There’s a lot of trees, there’s a lot of leaves, as you could hear — I’m swishing through these leaves — and moss.
We’ve got woods…and these are the…another thing that’s cool about woods versus forests or my terminology is…oh, one of the benefits of woods is that they have a different kind of history present in them. So, there’s gonna be the ways they divided property, which is always interesting that in the middle of these woods will be stone walls that people erected to say, oh, this is my woods and that must be your woods. I look at it a way…when you're a kid…as a kid I did not make it into these woods. I made it just a few feet into these woods once, I think. But so, these aren't the woods of my youth. But I mean, man, I can't believe they weren't the woods of your youth, dude, because they're pretty amazing. But so, the cool thing about woods is you can find things that have historical…but also it kinda creates where you can play with your…stone wall…the stone walls could be, when you're playing, thousands of years old. But there’s also always random things in woods.
Like, all the way deep in the woods you'll find cars, bikes…I mean, I was on a run two days ago in another part of these woods that’s a fair amount of ways away from where we are now, and there was a kid’s bike, and it was deep in these woods, right? There was never a kid riding a bike in the woods that deep, I would assume. So, yeah. Alright, now I’m in the creek bed, and I’m gonna try to navigate the creek bed for a while, 'cause it is mostly dry. I do have my hiking poles, which is good because I was thinking maybe we’ll go in this creek bed, and if you're doing that, you're gonna want poles. I’ve also had to…because I moved to the East Coast, I had to get things like rain boots. Or, these are kinda combo boots. They're not quite hiking boots, but this will hopefully break them in a little bit. Maybe they were nice boots that now are not gonna be quite as nice, but whatever. So, yeah, you could hear; I’m navigating with these poles and stuff.
Alright, so, leaf-peeping wise…now I’m at the bottom of a canyon. I’m trying to catch any drifting leaves. I think 'cause it’s wet we're not getting a lot of leaf snow here. But I’d say mostly the trees are at 33%. There’s a couple…okay, there’s a couple bare trees here in front of me. So, there are some bare trees. Not bear trees; bare trees. Oh, here you go; here’s just…I’m in a creek bed, and under a bush is what looks like a pounded-out…like a barrel that was unwound and then crumpled out. Like, did it makes its way down this stream or what? So, on the ground around me are leaves. I can definitely see maple leaves. That may be the only leaf I have the ability to describe. But there’s a bunch of other leaves. Oh, we got a good…so, yeah, we’ve got some of the rusty maroon, a lot of yellow, browns, and, I mean…and then the loaminess, right? Right now I’m crossing over a area where there probably is occasional water.
So, you've got leaves that just landed that are fresh, and then ones that have started to enter the cycle of life even further. So, taking on darker colors, getting a little bit more kind of a…not milky thing but slimy, a little bit, I’d say. It’s kind of amazing because coming up this creek, you would think it was a creek you could find in any state, but that would be…I guess at some point this must be really rushing, because the banks on one side, if I’m standing, they’ve gotta be ten feet tall, the water line, and on my right side, seven or eight feet tall. Yeah, that’s ten to twelve feet. Even like…I’m in what you could consider a pool, but it’s totally…well, it’s not totally dry, but it’s mostly dry. Again, the peacefulness here. Here’s what I would like to do, but a lot of times I propose this stuff and I’m not necessarily able to deliver. But, you know, progress. We're not about being perfect on Sleep With Me. I’m walking over a log that’s…was blocking my path there.
‘Cause I’d love to do this to see what this is like in the winter and then see what it’s like again in the summer and the spring, and then maybe next autumn, and see if there’s…oh, 'cause…I guess before I went off on that tangent…this would seem like it would be a powerful river that could never run dry that you’d find in the mountains or something. I guess probably for a few weeks a year, it probably is. Then that’s it. It’s very…it’s not very steep, but it’s pretty steep as far as it probably lives its life…like, what is that? Like, it’s…it has a big bang and then it’s quiet most of the year. Yeah, but the cool thing about being quiet is, yeah, there’s a lot of moss and so many rocks that you can hear, and it’s not like…actually, there’s no bed. It’s all stone that I’m walking on. It’s clearly been here a long time, because the canyon I’m in or the gully I’m in is…oh, I don't know, 30…hundred feet up, and steep enough that I can't crawl…I mean, I couldn't climb up.
Or, steep enough and loose enough dirt…there are some stones. I think this is a area of limestone. What’s my plan, though, right? Scoots, did you come in here with a plan? I came here with a general outline. So, we're gonna keep going up this creek bed slowly, because it’s also slippery. That’s why I have these poles. I think at some point it wraps around to my left, which it looks like it’s doing up there, and then it goes around another canyon to the left, and then it does level off in an exit area. So, we’ll see. Or it meets up with another canyon. But really, that’s another thing…oh man…oh, holy moly…that we're exploring. This is a place I’ve never been before. I’ve been near it on runs at the top of the canyon or at the top of the gully. But the reason my breath got taken away is because there’s a hood of a car on my left that is very rusted out. It could be…I mean, it’s definitely more than twenty years old. It’s impossible…well, I mean, it’s from a smaller car because it’s not even six feet at its widest point or its longest point.
Yeah, just the hood just sitting here on one of the banks, clearly washed up there at some point. I do have…so, part of these woods…I just happened to be running with somebody, and they were like, oh yeah, this person, I think, owns part of these woods. So, I did ask for his permission in that part of the woods, which I think is to the right of me, his woods, which I don't think we're in. I think some of this is park area. But yeah, this could be anywhere, anywhere. So, it’s like…it’s just the woods. But I think about that there was kids my age growing up in my time…oh, I think I see the rest of the car. This is total woods action. This doesn't matter the time of the year. The sun is still above the canyon. Wow, so, I see a bumper. I mean, this is straight out of the movies as far as like, the car or the…huh, the rear-end of the car? Is the car upside-down? Here I have a small tree across my path. I’m gonna try to go under it. I may have to get on my hands and knees. Yeah, and…yeah.
Scoots…will I get stretched there? I think my fanny pack almost got caught. Okay, so, it is kind of like a old 1950s…‘20s to ‘50s-type car with like…this looks like…I think…how’d the car get here? There’s not any roads anywhere nearby. I mean, was there off-road roads and then it got…ended up down here? But to stumble upon this stuff when you're a kid is how I ended up making a sleep podcast, I guess. So, it’s only the back-half of the car. There’s another big piece of metal here that I guess is part of the car, but the only reason I guess is 'cause it’s nearby the rest of the car. Yeah, it’s like…so, there’s a hood. I guess that could have been the trunk, not…the hood of the trunk, and then the rear 20% of a car. There’s a bunch of rocks and trees on it, and it’s kind of in a…so, we're actually…yeah, we're live here at a bend in the river, just like the song, but that song’s, I think, about relationships. But yeah, darlin’.
That’s where the car is kinda buried, which makes sense, because this has gotta be another area where it really is picking up steam. So, we're gonna continue along here. So…okay, so, so far we’ve found a car, which I was talking about. I had no idea. But I was like, man…then I was like, maybe that’s just in my mind, right? Here’s another piece of blue plastic. I’m just investigating. Garbage…so, what did he do when he was leaf-peeping? Oh, he just mostly talked about garbage he was finding. There’s a piece of plastic. Nothing super interesting. I guess one day we could develop this into a form of Bingo, right? Also, when you're…this was before the internet, right? So, I’ll just allude to it, but it’s the truth; it’s like, when you were discovering what would make your back sweat or your heart pitter-patter or your tummy quiver…and this is…comes up in movies made by people my age, but it’s also true; you would go on these woods.
You’d see a car, probably a bike, tires, which we haven't seen, and some sort of material that could be any age, I guess hidden, 'cause normally it would be hidden under some rocks in a drier area…that would make your heart go pitter-patter, and then you would…oh, there’s a chipmunk. It’s watching me and making its way up some…wow, is it gonna go all the way up there? Holy cow, it’s climbing right up a log. It’s going ten, twenty, thirty…ten, twenty, thirty feet up a log that’s sitting on the side of one of these canyons. Well, hopefully I’m right in my directions because…but I am pretty confident. I don't know how far we’ll have to go up this creek, but it’ll be hard coming back down if I’m wrong about the exit. But that’s fine. It’s an adventure. There’s a water bottle, a modern thing. So, yeah, we’ll see what we see. Again, a lot of nice, yellow leaves, and there’s a lot of birds tweeting. Scotty and Jennifer got me on the Merlin birding app.
I don't really have a phone with me to do that, but…that was a motorcycle in the distance. I guess I was sharing these episodes even in California because it’s like, whenever these on-location episodes I do…a lot of them are things that we all kind of have access to. It just takes a little bit of effort, and I think that does tie into making a sleep podcast or sleep, 'cause it’s like…oh, another piece of metal. This might be a piece of metal from a house. Okay, it’s thick metal. It’s like…I mean, I guess it could be a part of a car, but it looks like kinda…it’s really high quality, like house siding or something. Not like aluminum siding. I don't know, a big, long piece of metal, but not…like, obviously made a while ago 'cause it’s thick. So, people weren't trying to save as much as they could when they made it. But yeah, we all have access to these woods.
I mean, even I as a kid…I mean, I don't think I was allowed to have access to these woods, and…but they did start building developments on either side of these woods when I was a kid, and the only time I went up it was where this creek finally ends and goes underground and is funnelled into the city system. That’s where we got access to it, and I don't even know…it was pretty far from where I grew up. We probably…we definitely weren’t supposed to be down there, and we just started exploring it. Or maybe we were…I was visiting somebody, or one of my siblings’ friends or one of my parents’ friends. I was like, hey, I’m gonna go up behind your house and go up this creek. Okay, I spotted my first bird. I’ve been hearing birds, but I haven't really seen any. It is pretty nice, huh? It is a chill in the air. I have two layers on. I didn't wear a raincoat 'cause I was afraid of the swishing, and I was like, the trees will protect me enough. I have all stuff that would stay warm even if it got wet on.
So, well, it wouldn’t be pleasant. I would get too cold if I got wet, so…alright, I just went under another tree. So, this kinda worked out, 'cause I had thought about shooting a video for this, and then I was like, well, the thing I’ve been using to shoot video for the podcast occasionally like this, it really is just a consumer one that really needs as much light as possible. So, I think that was a good decision, 'cause these poles are really coming in handy. I don't think I would have made this journey with…now we're in a little bit thinner…oh wow, okay, so, not only is this part of the creek bed tighter — like, the canyon’s kinda closing in on me — it’s like, a much bigger…and maybe that’s why; huge, huge slabs of whatever this is, granite or limestone. So, I think it was just unable to wash away, so it just went deeper, deeper, and deeper. Really impressive and really picturesque. Holy moly. This is like the kinda thing…I’m glad I’m taking you…so, I’m looking up a canyon that rises up a little bit like steps.
There’s downed trees crossing the canyon. There’s a lot of green at ground level because there’s ferns and small, green plants. Then as I look upward, there’s bare trees. I guess the closer you get to the canyon and deeper in the canyon, maybe the trees don't ever have leaves or maybe they just…and then as you go up the canyon, the trees get to like…go from like, yeah, zero to 70% leaf. On my left side, it’s steeper and you do get some trees with really autumnal hype colors. Like, they start in a…like, it starts gold and yellow and maize and mustard, and then it starts to go more and more into the oranges. Holy moly…so, there’s a bird. Hi! A tiny bird, which was just hanging on…bouncing on a piece of greenery. It was just so close to me, I was struck by its beauty. So, excuse me. But yeah, excuse my…'cause I was kind of struck by the beauty of the leaves and then got beauty…bird beauty. The bird itself was not beautiful. It was the fact that it was hanging on this thing drinking some water or eating something and bouncing…and surprised me in a good way.
Very small bird. Oh, there’s two…okay, so there…I think I got a woodpecker and some robins up there. Oh, and I think another woodpecker just said, correct, 'cause that certainly does sound like a woodpecker. This sky is also…the sunlight is also reducing here, so that should make it interesting. Yeah, I’m continuing up this way I’m going. We are on an adventure. I mean, the good thing about woods is you always kind of know where you are, right? I probably have cell phone service; my phone’s just in my fanny pack. Also, I have a fanny pack. I like saying fanny pack. I have a older fanny pack; not a retro fanny pack. Like, one I originally bought for running and then I realized it was too big…I mean, it was for people running. I don't even know. I couldn't…I feel too bouncy for me running. For pretty deep…but I think it was when I was trying to run further distances. So, yeah, back to the leaves, right? I mean, what are we doing here? That was a rock under my foot; sorry.
But I think that’s alright. Hear that? So many natural noises around us. Okay, I see something in the nook of a rock here, then I’m gonna head over. I don't think it’s…holy cow, is that…? It’s not pitter-patter material, but it is…I’m trying to see if it’s plastic or…it’s a piece of a kiddie pool, I think. It’s vinyl. Look like it could have been ceramic or…but it does look like it was a piece of vinyl ripped off of something. Another tangent I could talk about is that there’s…so, I returned to where I grew up, right? I don't feel nostalgic for this place 'cause I’ve never been here, other than since I moved here. I honestly discovered it when I was out on a run by accident. I found a entrance into the woods, and I kept running. I realized, wow, there’s a lot of trails…and how extensive it was and how beautiful it was. I guess a hidden secret. But there’s probably tons of them around here like this. But it’s like, there’s so much stuff about returning home or whatever, and I’m just here to see how it goes in this one part of this phase of my life, right?
But it’s like, especially when you're somebody that spent a lot of time under the influence, and maybe not even under the influence of things but under the influence of not being present and putting off my life and saying, well, I’ll do this kind of stuff one day…except, when you were caught up in the youthfulness…which, even then, it was play. The idea, again, to come back here and do this kinda thing…I don't know, and then to be able to talk about it…'cause it’s like, hey, everybody’s got some kind of…your woods might be different, or they might not be woods. They might be something else. I’m sure there’s people that could walk through things with peat or bogs or whatever that were…that I get to take you with me, and maybe you're sleeping through, and that’s cool…on an adventure, right? This is actually an adventure, but in a small way, right? I mean, even for me it’s an adventure 'cause it’s like, huh, I have no idea where this goes. I only think this particular creek goes where I want it to go.
So, I’m trying to find…I’m gonna have to duck under some smaller, branch-type trees, and then go over a log that’s quite big and covered with moss. So, we’ll see how this goes, if I can narrate it. The biggest challenge is that…alright, so, I did have to not record while I got under that…those trees just 'cause I had to make the crawl. Now I’m sitting on…my bum’s on the log, a wet log. My bum’s on a wet log. Alright, so, we're through that, and still heading off on our adventure. Though timing-wise, I’m like…there’s another bend up here, so I’m gonna have to check this bend and also see if that engine noise is gonna be repetitive. It’s not gonna be repet…consistently repetitive here. I’m going through a couple trees. You can hear them brushing against me. Alright, now we're moving, and leaf-wise, we still got the same effect. Wow, so, here right above me…I don't even know how to describe some of these colors. They're beyond description.
Like, even in a subtle way, the tree right above me, it’s just…it’s like a tangerine orange…one of those…orangecicle-type color, almost, like a little…with a red, ruby-red grapefruit? Yeah, maybe. I mean, that’s the color of the underside of the leaves. Also, I’m…that’s another thing that’s unintentionally hilarious; I’m peeping the underside of leaves. I don't know if that’s anything like the back side of water, but that’s literally…you say, what kind of leaves did you peep today? The underside of leaves. My word! I thought you were a sleep podcaster. What were you talking about, other things you find in the woods, too, beyond cars and tires? I alluded to it, yes. Oh, here’s a…what is this here? It’s a long piece of metal. I’m gonna pull on it. It’s a tube. Yeah…oh, yeah, it’s just a bent tube of metal. I think these boots are doing pretty good, though they're gonna look a lot worse for their wear, and they were kinda dressy boots with the rubbery area.
But most of the reviews said you really gotta get those boots. Alright, so…interesting. So, we're at the bend, and…or, we're not at the bend. Yeah, we're getting close to the bend. It looks like I’m gonna have…this will be like a choose-your-own-adventure without…I mean, we will be choosing pretty soon. Or, you know, we're on the roleplaying…because…so, well, let’s see what the bend is. So, this part of the stream, again, it’s one of these turns, I guess because of the rock here just being less permeable. The water had to turn…or maybe 'cause of the descent. So, there’s a lot of trees and debris, and it looks like even a natural dam. But there’s also — with a little bit of crawling — an exit area that I may have to choose, because this…so, this creek is taking an expected turn on me, and I’m pretty sure — at least most of the time in these situations I have a fairly good sense of direction — that it’s taking a turn pretty far away from where I would want to go.
But I may be able to see if it levels off as we get around here. So, the…choosing your adventure would be continuing southbound…I think is the direction. We’ve mostly been going south and east. But it takes a hard southern turn where I kind of maybe want to go east. But I can't imagine where this ends, either. That’s what’s interesting to me, is that it…there’s a major road that it cuts through. So, it has to…I don't think there’s any…it has to end somewhere. So, I think I am gonna exit, though, just 'cause in order to get around this…all this stuff that’s built up, I already had to climb a path to the bank. Yeah, I think I’m gonna climb up this bank. I could end up covered in mud. That was a piece of plate glass right where I’m climbing. Okay, let’s take that for future climbers and put it somewhere. Oh, that’s probably not the best spot either, but..okay, I’m trying to…it’s a bit like mountain climbing. I’m trying to figure out where to place my feet and stuff.
Okay, so, we are up the bank and we’re in a small waterfall, I guess, when it’s wet. This is another small runoff gully that I’m climbing up now. I’m just guessing…well, I could see where this goes. It gives me some elevation gain. I’m guessing that even if it does go where I want, just to my left is one of the trails that I run on…up and to the left. So, twenty feet up. Yeah, it’s a nice, challenging hike, too. So, there’s some good ferns. There’s a plastic container of car fluid there, or a empty one. Alright, so this one, I think…this canyon turns into a Y. I’m getting some really good crunching and leafing, huh? Huh, it’s actually…wow, so this was, again, probably only for less than a week a year, kinda like the falling of leaves. This has gotta be this…there’s all these moss-covered, small, round rocks that the water must come down here and spill over, but only briefly. Oh, wait a second, we get another…are we gonna get a trifecta? I see a tire. So, yeah, we did see a tire.
I haven't seen a bike yet or something that would make my heart go pitter-patter. So, yeah, here we go, making our way out of the gully. I’m only guessing that I know where I am. But again, I’m fairly confident. I just have to find the egress…oh, okay, another one for your…for future Woods Bingo is a beer can. It’s funny 'cause it’s one of the beers that we would help people carry to their cars in high school. It’s funny 'cause you figure that’s the way everybody does it, and then you go someplace else and you say, oh, no, no, no, that’s not the kind we would carry to people’s cars. Alright, so, I’m on a steep, non-rocky — there’s a couple walnuts — slope here, and trying to get to the top of this canyon. I’m guessing that there’s a trail right at the top. I’m doing a little…oh, is that a pricker bush? Is that the trail? I think so. I’m not quite there yet 'cause I’m, whatever, going side to side. Oh yeah, okay, so, Scoots does know…Scoots does have a sense of direction. Okay, so, we can go to the right. Yeah.
Oh, this is right where the trail splits. Okay, so, it’s…another interesting thing this exit learned or taught me is that there’s two creeks or two major…at least two major creeks. One thing I was wondering…so, I did do a location hike also of the other creek, and I exited it up here. But I was curious if it went around and connected to the creek we were just in, and now I’m believing that they don't ever connect, which we’ll also keep adventuring and investigating, obviously. There’s also one of the stone walls, which is quite nice. Yeah, now is a good time to start to ease off. Oh, there’s a telephone poll? Only it’s cut off…or some sort of telegraph pole? I’m not making jokes. It’s pretty old and it’s definitely…was properly put in there. That would be a interesting way…that’s along the wall. That’d be a interesting thing to follow. Maybe they buried the lines here, and they used to go through these woods once upon a time. But yeah, I’m gonna slowly hike out of these woods.
I could talk for a few more minutes, and then leave in some ambient audio depending…I don't think I have that far to go, and there are other people out enjoying the woods today. I only saw one when I first started, a gentleman and a very nice, friendly dog. The dog was very interested in me, first 'cause I smell…they smelled Koa, but then also 'cause I had the poles. I honestly think the dog was like, this guy, I better watch him as he navigates these. So, what a nice dog. So, I’m on a part of the woods here where the floor of the woods is covered in ivy, and the kind of ivy you expect to find…not the ivy that causes anything, but ornamental ivy? I don't know how else to describe it. You'd expect to see in someone’s garden just growing out here, like a nice bed of it. Honestly, this time of day and the way the color is, it takes on this hue — there goes a crow — like a aquamarine-type beautiful color. There’s a little bit of mist or water on it. Really…there’s so many magical things to discover.
We're getting close to this other creek bed, and this is actually where I made my egress of the other creek when I was just like, huh, let me just go up one of these creek beds and see where it goes. I didn't have my poles; that was the main…I wasn't recording, but I was like, okay, next time I want to have poles with me because it just makes it much more navigable. But I was also at this point, which we're at now…I was like, huh, this thing must connect to the other one. So, to my right, which is kinda southwest, is where that’s going. I mean, I could connect to the one that was going southeast. I do want to make sure to go to the end of those at another point just to see where they end just 'cause of the major road. I mean, maybe there’s culverts coming from…that go under the road? That would be quite exciting, especially for an adult versus a kid that has a little bit more sensibility and that.
So, yeah, what we're doing now is…there’s a lot of leaves on the ground, and this is this other creek I’m getting to, or creek bed, stream bed, however you want to frame it. We are working on this Woods Bingo, so at some point we could come out with Woods Bingo boards. I got that…I have one of the sponsors of the show at the time I’m recording this, Uncommon Goods…I got this Bingo set for autumnal films, which is really fun. My daughter, my brother, and I played it watching an autumnal film. It’s like, you kinda shout out when you think you have something. Then the other people may have it on their thing or they may say, no, I don't think that was that; like a pumpkin or a person running, something like that. You're like, pumpkin? You say, no, that’s a Jack…I mean, I guess a jack-o-lantern…if you had a jack-o-lantern, there was a pumpkin. The person would say, no, no, no, that’s a pumpkin, not a jack-o-lantern. So, that’s actually…we backed our way into a good example there.
Oh wow, so, we have some leaning trees here. So, I think I’ll say goodnight. I’ll check the time again…some trees leaning against one another. You hear some kinda sounds. The trees are all covered in moss. Is that…? Does moss grow on the east or west side? That’s kinda northeast side. It feels like it’s dusk, but I think that’s just from the clouds. A lot of trees, a lot of leaves, and a lot of comfort. A lot of comfort, natural comfort that I can miss out on all the time, that…and it just doesn't have to be this thing. Like, I don't have to idealize this. I’m sharing it with you, right? I don't think I’m bathing in nostalgia, but sometimes nostalgia-scented soap, where that’s one of the senses, isn't half bad, I think. I don't know. But also, I’m just talking to talk against these sounds. There’s not a lot…this path is probably well-travelled 'cause there’s not a lot of leaves directly on this path, but all around me. The other nice thing about the winter and having poles…or even the fall is that…I mean, I’m in pants.
So, it’s more navigable versus other times of the year in the summer or even the spring once stuff starts coming out. It’s not so navigable. So, I’ll continue to have adventures when I’m running here, but continue to take you on adventures here, not just in these woods but other woods in other places. I really appreciate you listening to the show and being here and joining me on this kind of thing. If you're with me or you're resting, again, I hope…I guess it’s not the kind of comfort you could take with you or put your finger on, but we're here together in it right now. There’s another set of leaves that are almost the color of antique paper. Wow. Hypnotic. There’s not really any wind, so everything is just sitting. Wow, hypnotic. Antique-paper-colored, yellow newsprint with splotches of brown and…some curled up and already dried out. Goodnight, everybody.
[End of recording]
Transcription performed by LeahTranscribes
