Sims Pond Trail As early environmentalist John Muir once said, “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” Every person receives a unique gift when walking through the wilderness. For some, the gift is tranquility. For others, it is invigoration. Each gift is never precisely the same as the last. Nature has a way of offering a new, distinct experience each time one walks with her. No place exemplifies Nature’s beauty as wonderfully as Sims Pond Trail of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sims Pond Trail is a multi-faceted experience for the mind and the senses. Brilliant sunlight streams through the leaves and branches of the trees, splattering the underbrush and the dirt in a billion shades of viridescent light. The murmur of a babbling brook caresses one’s ear from the head of the trail, growing to a muffled roar as one continues along the path. Mountain laurel and wild violet fill the air with sweet fragrances, overlapping the mild, earthy smell of moist soil and transpiration. With a soft thud, decomposing branches crumble underfoot. Moving farther down the trail, the air becomes thick. The humidity threatens to disassemble even the most fortified of hair-dos, but that is the farthest thought from an individual’s mind. Instead, the mind is filled with wonder, excitement, and nostalgia. Being alone with Nature can remind a person of a simpler time, his or her childhood perhaps. All these things lead to an overwhelming, all-consuming calm. Just as one’s mind gets …show more content…
One will never leave Sims Pond Trail the same person as when he or she first arrived. It will not be apparent at first, it may not even be apparent to others, but as soon as one leaves, they find themselves yearning to return, and return often at that. No matter the mental burdens people arrive carrying, all can find somewhere on the trail to cast them away. By going out to Nature, especially Sims Pond Trail, one may find that they are, in fact, travelling