The Hidden Gem Amid the Wooded Rough of Northern UMass.

So there was a period last semester that I had reason to go rambling. Not blithering or gibbering, as one may ordinarily think of the word, but a long walk without any rhyme or reason. Living in McNamara Hall, my first sight that was a welcome refuge from brick and concrete of the UMass campus was the sprawling woods behind the Sylvan residential area. I set what little course I planned in that direction, playing “Further” by the Chemical Brothers, and stepped into the woods. I found a place, its own little oasis of rolling hills in the midst of the dense trees, that immediately enamored me. This is the spot where I traveled to once again, but this time in an effort to take fitting pictures back in an effort to present it to a class.

This is the first sight that greets you as you emerge from the woods, a lone tree in the midst the sea of grass. By this point, it’s far out of sight and sound of most of the distractions of UMass. It opens up to a marshy field, and continues on over a hill, where it provides you with a sight of a seamless, rolling hill rarely seen in central Massachusetts, and one that still never ceases to amaze me:

Combined with the only sounds coming from the rustling of the grass, the warbling chirp of crickets, and the occasional piping of birds, it really is quite the difference from what lies less than a mile away in the brick-laden spires of Sylvan.

There is nary a person around, and the only people I’ve ever seen are by themselves, walking their dog. A shocking thing is that there is no trash. No beer bottles, no cigarette butts, no chip bags, no plastic bags, no sodden newspapers; nothing. It’s a kind of pristine nature that allows you to be able to stop and really notice what is going on in the tall grass.

(And for those in the arachnophobic camp)

I’m not even really sure why this place exists, but it’s clearly maintained by someone. However, it definitely couldn’t serve as farmland, so why keep it up? Maybe for the exact reasons I like it? Or maybe not? I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, in any case. Now I just have to hope that me talking about it doesn’t make it open game for everyone else…