Lurking in Trees

I love people. I love that if you sit perfectly still you don't need to be camouflaged, you're just invisible. Being up in a tree helps.

For my walk today I wanted to go up a side trail that Molly and I left unexplored. It looked promisingly steep and well beaten without being frequently used. It starts with a series of roots, up into the undergrowth.

 I climbed up it, ducking under a felled tree on my way up only to find a burned out log and no trail. I sighed and turned to head back on my way when I saw that the log I'd ducked would be perfect to perch on, right over the main trail, shaded, and high enough that no one would see me.

Sometimes it's not about the walking. It's about being part of the forest. The spot was at the crux of three trails and as I sat I could hear far off splashes as people jumped into the falls, families calling and laughing but couldn't see anyone. I liked it. I decided to sit perfectly still and just be part of the forest for a while. I was looking down at the trail when a guy walked by with his dog. As he walked by he looked right up at me. Not wanting to appear threatening or creepy I smiled and said hi and watched him visibly startle. He'd been looking right at me but hadn't known I was there, and even after I said hi he clearly couldn't see me until I lifted my head. He looked put off and said a cursory hello then quickened his pace.

Aside from the guy who watched me walk into place no one else looked up or saw me. I swear I'm not a serial killer, but total I sat for about two hours just watching people go by. After a while I stopped sitting still. No one saw me, even if I was shuffling around while they went by. After a while I put my headphones back on and began singing. A hawk joined me in a duet and I watched its shadow move across the canopy as it circled overhead.

I noticed a spider overhead begin building a web. It was an appropriate distance away that I watched in fascination, singing on and off. I was focused on watching it when I startled a group below me. I'd started singing as they moved onto the lower trail and I saw them all jump out of the corner of my eye. I lowered my headphones and smiled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm watching a spider build a web." The two women and one of the men smiled at the odd person in the tree, but the last man scowled at me. "The park closes at 11, just so you know!" I blinked at him, then smiled and shrugged and put my headphones back on. It was three in the afternoon. I couldn't tell if he was implying I was a squatter, or that I'd sit watching a spider all day if he didn't warn me otherwise. His tone said clearly he didn't like being startled by people singing in trees, and that he wanted to assert some control.


I watched people go by multiple times, joggers and couples and a man on his phone with two dogs. I was singing as they went by. He never saw me, but both his dogs looked up and wagged their tails at me. After two hours I realized  I was starving and set out for home. As I was jumping down out of the root ladder I scared my final person of the day, making a guy jump into the air. I smiled apologetically without a word.