We all went on this walk: Tom, me, and the 3 pups (Tetsu, Tikaani, and Miyu) Stepping into Prosser Pines always has this kind of mystical feel to it. The ground is covered with nothing but pine needles, there's little to no undergrowth, and the pines create a thick canopy overhead. Even with the busy street close by, the pines mute the sounds of rushing cars and all you can really hear is the wind rustling the pine needles.
What's really great about this park is that even though there are marked trails, there really isn't anything that can prevent you from making your own trail. So we started off on the trail, casually enjoying the serene beauty of these trees. There were various fallen trees across the trails, victims of Hurricane Sandy most likely, but they were easy to step over or walk around. We eventually started meandering off the trails, mainly so as not to bump into others walking the parks.
As we wondered around the trees, something caught my eye. There was a strange collection of branches, I didn't know what they were but I had to go check them out. We headed towards it, curious to see what it is. As we got close to it, we could hear the creaking of the branches, as the tree the leaned on swayed back and forth.
We never expected to find a tipi (or what I later found was called a tree-pi) in the middle of this forest. Numerous branches and small logs carefully placed against this tree, a seemingly artistic expression to emphasize nature. I was ecstatic to find this, and quite glad that I remembered to have brought my camera.
We continued our walk, talking about the tree-pi and wondering who could have built it. We found a trail and followed it to the edge of the forest. This edge of the forest bordered what looked to be a sod farm, fields of grass and watering equipment, everything maintained for the winter cold. We watch a few geese chewing on the grass until the trail took us back among the trees. As we walked, Tom saw what may be another tree-pi in the distance. We headed towards it to check it out. What we found may have been a tree-pi at one point, but it looks like it might have fallen over.
I was a bit disappointed, and hoped that this collapse was an act of nature and not some person being mean. As we walked around it, we noticed a small plastic box hidden under it.
I left my own message in the book, before placing all the contents back in the box and leaving the box where I found it. We continued to wander the forest for a another half hour before heading back to the entrance. As we headed to the car, I saw a few more people heading into the park. I wondered if they too would find these little surprises, and leave a message in the book for future hikers to see.
