Sit Spot, in the beginning…

When we began to talk about sit spots in my Natural History class my mind went immediately to “sit-upon”. Every scout reading this should know what I am speaking of, a stack of newspapers covered with a piece of plastic tablecloth or placemats stitched together with yarn. At least that is how my troop made them. The idea was something lightweight and easy to carry outdoors that you could sit upon and not get your butt wet or dirty. Later I used bits of tarp or an old flat pillow when I did outdoor sketching but I always called it a “sit-upon”, even if it was just in my own head.
The sit spot is a place, outdoors, that I will, at least once a week, spend a half an hour or so making observations. What kind of observations? The kind a naturalist would make. These observations will be jotted down in my journal to be later written up and posted in this blog. I picked a spot in Seven Bridges-Grant Park, South Milwaukee. This is old stomping grounds for me and this assignment is the perfect motivation to get back to regularly visiting a place I love.
Due to schedule and weather I almost did not make it out to my spot before the first writing was due but a little time opened up and off I went. It is still too cold to sit still for thirty minutes so for this first entry I will include things technically outside of my sit spot.
Two thirty in the afternoon, Monday, March 4th. There is more than one way into Seven Bridges. I have chosen the main way off of the park road. From here, there are two paths into the woods; the treacherous icy stairs or the treacherous icy bridge. They both go the same way connecting to other, crossing paths, but one leads down to the beach level and the other leads up the ridge. I usually go in one and come out the other so as to hit all the fun bits but snow and ice could make parts impassable. I chose the bridge route since the spot I want is up on the ridge and it is too darn cold to spend time backtracking (29°, winds 9 mph).
The spot I chose is in the woods with a view of the lake and a small bit of beach. I wanted to be able to see the lake because springtime is a great time to observe the lake as there is all that ice that will break up and melt. If you have never heard large chunks of lake ice crack, you are truly missing out. Today the closer I got to the lake and my spot, the windier it got. The wind was whipping through the trees and I heard the water flowing through the ice. The trees are bare with white lines on the same side where the wind blows the snow. The only creatures I saw was a couple heading out of the area I was headed to. The ground on the path is snow packed and covered in prints of both two and four legged travelers. I was right in taking the bridge route; the stone stairs that take you down to the lower paths (and would have brought me up if I’d gone the other way) were too ice covered to be safely traversed.
After about fifteen minutes my cheeks were raw and I needed to start back. It was not my full half-hour in my spot but I had been out for about 40 minutes. Hopefully the weather will warm up a little before my next assignment is due.