Join hiker Olivia Schnur as she explores La Crosse Blufflands North County FA Trailhead (Mathy Tract) on the Snake Root Trail.
I arrive at the Mathy Tract trailhead and park along a neat row of cars. The other people must be somewhere in the bluffs, because I have the space to myself. A large trail map sits nestled between several paths. I decide to hike a 1.25-mile loop and follow signs for the Snake Root trail.
A vast prairie sprawls out before me. Unrelenting bluffs arch their spines in the distance. Waves of yellow-green flowering grass yawn out over the landscape. Tiny bursts of pink, yellow, and purple flowers crop out of the dense greenery before me.
It’s the first day of June and everything appears to be in bloom. The cool breeze brings the perfect balance to this 70-degree day. The warm spring sun makes the prairie grass glow golden and green.
Sounds of spring linger in the air. My boots brush through the grass. A red-winged blackbird calls out in the distance and I watch it land on a fence post. Crickets chirp and create a background hum. Dragonflies soar around the prairie. A fat bumblebee lands on a pink clover.
The elevation gently shifts. The trail lowers me into a canopy of birch trees framed by flowering blackberry bushes. The scene is a shock of white bark and soft beige petals amidst a sea of emerald green. I slow my pace to take in the beauty of the landscape.
The trail weaves through the woods. The air grows cooler and the day is darker under the shade of the birch. Slivers of sunlight peek through windows between paper thin leaves. The scent of flowering blackberry bushes permeates the air.
The hushed landscape is alive with sounds made by invisible creatures. The forest floor crackles under the weight of tiny legs. I imagine a bug hopping on a leaf. Squirrels and rabbits rummage through the wood chips and dried leaves. They find remnants left behind from a season long ago. Something small and furry burrows in a hollow log.
A spider hangs just overhead. I catch glimpses of her web in the dappled sunlight. Below me, a daddy long-legs rests perfectly on a leaf with one leg extended outward. I reach a finger out. He tentatively taps my finger and reflexively pulls his leg back onto his leaf.
Soon the birch is replaced by a forest of tall pines. Copper colored needles cover the trail. The needles that still cling to branches high above form little tufts of green – like pom poms shooting out of jagged limbs.
The trail loops around and returns to me the prairie. The landscape yawns open once more. Pale lavender flowers bob their heads in the breeze. The grasses and flowers grow taller here – nourished by the sun without the shade of trees.
I linger in the prairie and watch the grasses dance in the breeze. The scent of spring fills my lungs. It’s easy to breathe here. Easier to listen and to hear.
In the span of about one mile, I walked through a variety of ecosystems. I felt the subtle shifts in elevation. I noticed the gentle drop in temperature and changing light. I heard the sounds of a thousand living beings nestled in their homes.
That was all the time it took for me to remember how sacred this space is. How important it is to protect all the living beings within it. How much I needed this pause in the prairie to grow quiet and walk within it. How much we depend on our relationship with nature to remember who we truly are.
It was just the pause I needed.
Olivia is a mental health counselor, yoga teacher, rock climber & Driftless area native who finds healing and belonging in the bluffs.