The Shamokin/Coal Township Nature Trail: An Up-Close Adventure (Part 2)
(Please Note: The first post in this series can be found at http://shamokin.biz/shamokin-nature-trail-adventure/)
And so…my adventure fully began.
The Shamokin-Coal Township Nature Trail was not only a refuge for students seeking asylum from skipped classes and bad acid trips, but also a place to really relax on the bridge over the stream and play some gin rummy with a best pal.
Isn’t there a saying that “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?”
Well, that’s what my friends and I decided to do, “join ‘em.”
Chillin’ With The Cool Kids
No more gin rummy for us, NO WAY. We began to chill with the “cool” kids and never look back (until our G.P.A.s started slipping).
But, in the interim, it was an UNBELIEVABLE experience! Our minds seemed to become open to the cosmos, war was ending and everyone was neighborly to each other.
This was undoubtedly the first warning to my addled brain, but we continued on like immortals, not unlike Duncan MacLeod of the “Highlander” series. If you are too young or never watched this series, I strongly recommend the first Highlander movie and the first two seasons of the TV show, it changed my life.
Shamokin Nature Trail Revealed
Acid Trip Party Helmet
Anywho, the Nature Trail became a place to smoke, a place for weird, unexplainable rituals and of course, SEX.
However, anyone brave/stupid/high enough who would venture to fornicate there would either end up with a wicked case of poison ivy or else the girl would have a giant bruise on her back (neck, arms?) from the stupidity of having sex on top of sharp rocks and stones.
The Shamokin Nature Trail also became a personal sanctuary for me during the latter part of my senior year. I believe it was my art class and bohemian art teacher that made me feel “chill,” wanting to commune with nature and all that crap, and it worked!
Patchouli incense abounded, drawings were drawn, paintings were painted and everyone felt love for one another (almost like the “free love” movement during the late 1960′s).
There were also times when our beloved Nature Trail did not seem so cosmically centered and that is when the “Camp Crystal” adventures seemed to commence.
(Part 3 in the Shamokin Nature Trail Adventure series coming soon!)
