Jumping to Conclusions.

There is a saying, “Never judge a book by its cover.” Outward appearances can be deceiving. So, drawing a conclusion about a place or thing based only on a quick glance and passing judgment risks missing something wonderful. I wish I could say I was above this, but I recently did this very thing; I judged a place, a hike I had planned,  before I was even out of the car. I’m not proud of this.

I use the word “planned” pretty loosely here. My planning usually just involves me finding a green spot on a map and exploring. It usually works out pretty well, surprisingly enough. But on this particular day, upon arriving at my green spot on the map, I found myself in the parking lot of what appeared to be a normal neighborhood park. A jungle gym and swingsets sat not far from the “trailhead” of the hike I had planned. This did not bode well, I thought, and I almost turned around before I even parked the car.

At this point, I reminded myself that there are plenty of neighborhood parks in my very own neighborhood that I love. Plus, I drove all the way out here; what else was I going to do? I put the car in park, got out, and grabbed my camera bag. I was 200 yards down the trail, and I found myself in a beautifully wooded area beside a large pond. Things were already looking up; I had hardly begun, and I had already forgotten about my knee-jerk reaction to this place. It was beautiful.

I continued on with my hike, a little ashamed of my initial judgment of this park. I was disappointed in myself for having an opinion about a place I knew nothing about. It was around mile two of this three and a half mile hike that I found myself at the base of an amazing waterfall. I was all alone in the woods, and as I stood there immersed in tranquility, a vulture soared above me and landed in the trees behind me. It was an incredible sight. I could not have been more wrong about this place, and I was so happy I ignored that judgmental voice in my head. Ankle deep in the river, photographing a waterfall with my new friend the vulture watching on, I made some images and simply enjoyed the rest of my day. Vowing to never again judge a book by its cover.