Wild Woods

The last mention of the Wild Woods trails I found in the archives date from the 1980's.  I wanted to see what remained.  Plus - as a bonus - see if there was any indication at all left from Adeline Axtell, who owned the driveway parcel in the last quarter of the 1800's.  I set out from behind the pool and walked NNE. Soon I was in a woods nice enough - lots of young sassafras and spicebush - but remarkable for its lack of features:  no paths, no rocks, no weird trees, no old trees, and at that particular moment - no sound!  That part was freakish. NO human voices, no machinery.  You could really get lost in here because there are no landmarks for a long way - maybe an area for testing of orienteering skills?  I had my compass because I had just been working on caches and letterboxes, so I just kept walking roughly north.  Eventually I heard a small creek and followed the sound.  It was in a gentle ravine.  A bird was fluttering in the water giving himself a bath.  A chipmunk sat on a log for a long while, watching me watching him.  I followed upstream a little way - the trees started looking more interesting - older beeches, and the topography on either side of the creek more rolling.  Then there were boulders and ledges, and the creek disappeared in a twenty-foot tumble of boulders!  Very impressive.  I climbed up top and a flat, dry creekbed meandered off farther in a boring sort of way.  The little grotto ( if that's the right term) could be a nice hike destination.  I had the GPS (how often does that happen - that you accidentally have just the thing you need?) N 41 degrees, 14.921, W 81degrees, 40.325.  But I didn't leave anything there.  I'd like to go back with some other people from this group.  Maybe have an an off-shoot from the rest of the trail?  Of course we still need to FIND the main trail.  I was probably too far west.  It probably started from Whispering Woods unit where the overflow parking is now or Green Trees which used to be across from Gund.