By Mara Minsberg
The great outdoors may not seem like an ideal destination when trying to find activities to beat sweltering triple-digit temperatures, but a thick layer of surrounding trees can offer some much-needed shade and solace. At least that’s what I have been told by my avid outdoorsy friends. With the heat index holding steady at a staggering 108, it seems there are not many appealing daytime activities to engage in sans air conditioning.
Nevertheless, armed only with some Deep Woods OFF! protection, my bat-eared dog Sammy and I head to the Park Hudson Trail in hopes of taking some old fashioned comfort in the beauty of nature. It is not quite Yellowstone or Rocky Mountain National Park, but with our lack of mountaineering training and rappelling knowledge we are more than happy to settle for a novice trail.
Park Hudson Trail is located at a distance some may refer to as a “stone’s throw” from my apartment. I’ve always considered nature to be something that you have to seek out with some degree of difficulty, so it feels a bit like cheating to walk across the street and claim to have immersed myself in the wild. I throw on a baseball cap and some athletic shoes to round out the prerequisite items meant to protect me from being eaten by giant insects, leash up an overeager Sammy, and we begin our outdoor adventure close to home.
Entering the trail is a surprisingly immersing experience in which the trees serve as sturdy barriers from the outside world. The developments surrounding Park Hudson Trail are admittedly on the quieter side for the Bryan/College Station area, but there is still something startling about leaving the buzz of the built-up world behind me for a more natural environment.
With the exception of some industrial equipment and a street crossing that infiltrate the woodsy experience for a block or two, the trail provides an array of uninterrupted natural beauty. The City of Bryan website describes the trail as “a heavily wooded area with abundant wildlife that is a buffer zone between the residential neighborhood and the business developments along University Drive.” As I have discovered living here, when you are set amid a bustling neighborhood, an enclosed preserved “buffer” zone may be the best outdoor experience within your reach.
What I am not expecting, however, is the lack of buffer between myself and the so-called abundant wildlife. A posted sign informs us of the many varieties of snakes present along the trail, and while Sammy does not seem particularly concerned about any reptilian threats, the warning alone nearly sends me running back to the exit toward less-slithery civilization.
Just a few yards down the trail we actually encounter one of these wriggling creepy crawlies, a narrow yellow and green specimen that whets Sammy’s indiscriminate appetite but has me pulling us both in the other direction. (It seems I like nature so long as it is sanitized for my safety and filtered for my squeamishness.) Luckily, I find that I can run much faster than a snake, which it turns out cannot run at all. About three blocks down I realize this and feel a bit embarrassed at my fight-or-flight overreaction but proud to emerge victorious with my evolutionary superiority.
As we walk the remainder of the serene trail snake-free, what strikes me the most about the experience is the rarity of these moments, of discovering and delighting in something new. It is not often that I take the time to observe and appreciate my surroundings, particularly those available so close to home. I tend to mistakenly assume that finding unique and interesting experiences requires extensive travel. In reality, there are many places around me that, like the trail, I might pass every day without so much as a notice.
For those interested in visiting Park Hudson Trail, it is located in Bryan along Hudson Creek with an entrance off Boonville near the intersection of Boonville and Copperfield. It features 59 wooded acres well-suited to walking, jogging, or biking complete with bright nighttime lighting and emergency towers.
Users should exercise caution and be aware that they may encounter deer, snakes, and other native wildlife on the trail. Though I may have personally preferred to have avoided a firsthand snake encounter, the overall tranquil experience more than made up for my brief moment of fear and left me enthusiastic about exploring the natural beauty in the Bryan/College Station area.