Congdon Park Offers an Outdoor Refuge During Finals Stress

In my former life, as a full-time office drone, I needed constant reminders that life wasn’t completely miserable and the stress I was going through was temporary. This impulse brought me to a meditation group (called a sangha), where I first tried walking meditation.

In this practice, the group would stand in a circle, turn to left, and then slowly start walking. There was no music or direction to dictate the rhythm of the walk, only the quiet attention to the person’s feet in front of you and the pace of your body’s own breaths and heartbeat.

In my walk down Tischer Creek, on the trails that make up Congdon Park, I was reminded of this walking meditation and it was a perfect opportunity to once again slow down. It was a great escape from the hectic nature of final projects of the semester (including the Comm 1000 assignment that subjected me to watching an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants – yikes!).

Congdon Park encompasses the section of the creek that runs from Vermillion Road down to Superior Street. If you’re standing on campus, take a right on West Saint Marie Street, walk two blocks until St. Marie ends, and you’ve arrived at the entrance to the park. Given its closeness to campus, it always surprises me that so few people I’ve talked to are familiar with the park.

My friend Randi and I entered the park at its Superior Street terminus. This section contains multiple bridges that cross the creek and tall rock walls, made up of red rhyolite. Where the stone met up with the stream, it usually found ice that varied from a glassy crystalline layer to stark and solid white.

It was surprising to see so much ice in good thickness, given the only-recent arrival of sub-freezing temperatures. The ice draped over waterfalls and, in sections, we were able to see water flowing beneath its surface.

Walking up the creek, we had a choice between the upper hard-surface trail that sees a lot of stroller traffic, the middle trail that’s wide and well-padded, and the less formal trail that snakes closest to the creek and occasionally requires careful stepping over rocks. You are of course encouraged to take the latter. Along the way, there are benches inviting you to take a seat and listen to the sputtering and gurgling of the water as it runs over, under, and through the ice.

Winter is an excellent time for visiting these short, easy-to-walk trails. The thinned trees give greater views of the creek and fewer walkers aid the feeling of solitude. There are lots of pines and cedars also to help you forget that you’re a few blocks from campus. We ran into a couple of deer that curiously watched us as we passed by 50 feet away from them. As you walk up the stone steps and along the trails covered with pine needles, try to step slowly and see if a little walking meditation can relax you through the final days of the semester.