I wanted to do a title and a description for this picture that didn't sound too pretentious or emo...


This is a place, very close to my house that I've been going to recently, to destress, be alone and to focus on playing.
When I'm here, the endless "to-do" list in my head disappears and I can waste time without worrying about where it's going.
I cross a playground, climb a fence and walk to the river and immediately I can smell the trees, listen to the river and feel the heat of the sun through the leaves.

This path has been made by fishermen walking along the banks over the years.
I've been very careful not to disturb any of the nature in this area. To me, the nature here is where nature intended it to be and is an obstacle to get past without disturbance. I move the brambles to one side without uprooting them, hooking them behind some low branches, some I don't even bother moving, leaving me with some pretty nasty looking cuts on my shin by the end of the day.

In the picture, the board is placed on a small plateau; 4 or 5 feet in width, made from rocks and the roots of a tree which bows out of frame over the stream.

Starting at the top of the trail, without even room to push off, I hobble forward at the peak, gaining momentum and then attempt to jump over the roots and awkwardly placed rocks (which I could easily unearth to make the trail easier, but where's the fun in that?).
I love this challenge. So far I haven't made it over the entire plateau, but the funny thing is that I don't want to, not just yet anyway. I want the challenge to remain for a while.

I've hit my wheels off the roots, scraped my board off the rocks, (did something else with the Reggae). I've rolled over the entire thing, I've fallen off so many times and yesterday, I even fell off in mid-air after catching a root, but I somehow, with one foot still bound, managed to land on the board on the other side and roll away, almost kneeling!
After all of this, it doesn't discourage me in the least! I'll fall in the soil over and over, but I just want to dust myself off and do it again!


*Note: Always wear protective gear and have a phone close to hand when hitting a trail solo!
**Note 2: The Cat Empire are the perfect soundtrack to any non-competitive sport played in the sun!