March 19, 2020, by Roger Mays

The weather service forecast 72 and sunny, but the dashboard displayed 77. My tee shirt and long sleeve tee were telling me the dashboard thermometer might be right.  Under a perfect powder blue sky my wife and I walked the Neusiok Trail from Mill Creek Road south to Oyster Point on the Newport River.

Officially, spring waits till tomorrow but the Carolina jasmine decorating the pines above and the fiddleheads poking up next to the small creeks didn’t wait.

Despite these obvious signs of spring, winter still hangs on closer to Mill Creek, the still cold water slowing down the inevitable cascade of life soon to come, and the still brown marsh grasses yet to push out new shoots.

High in the pines, the wind serenades and the scenery erases the morning conference call and the mundane office tasks. The herd of deer we spooked last month didn’t appear, nor did the turkeys we saw another time. We walked a little over an hour, it’s less than 2 miles from Mill Creek Rd. to Oyster Point, but it was plenty of time to leave behind the clutter and frustration of the morning without violating our efforts to keep some proper social distance. Today it was easy, only 2 other people whisked by on their own private adventure, barely disturbing our quiet enjoyment. It’s often like that in the woods and the Neusiok never fails to delight, and today was no exception.

(Photos courtesy of Roger Mays)