I have always enjoyed exploring, and from my childhood to the present day I have spent a lot of time doing just that at Eighteen Mile Creek. \u00a0Originating in western NY in the Town of Lockport, Eighteen Mile Creek passes through my home town of Angola and ends as a tributary of Lake Ontario. \u00a0It is the main attraction of a small park near my house, coupled with a modest basketball court and some picnic tables. \u00a0Having lived in that area my whole life, I have seen the creek in all its states. \u00a0Springtime often brings flooding, and what is normally a calming body turns into a furious tide complete with rapids. \u00a0A friend once told me that after an aggressive storm, he was able to reach over a bridge and touch the water below, something that couldn’t be done with a 10-foot-pole otherwise. \u00a0When Summer comes, the creek frequently dries up, becoming a bed of rock devoid of life. \u00a0There are also the winter months, which in Western NY can get quite chilly. \u00a0Whenever the water freezes over, I like to bike to it and see if I can walk out onto it (it is normally rather shallow). \u00a0However, my favorite time at Eighteen Mile Creek is when it looks like what you imagine when you imagine a creek. \u00a0That time when the water level is high enough to allow life, yet low enough to still be safe. \u00a0When the sun is shining and the wind sometimes knocks leaves out of trees. \u00a0When you can really have fun.<\/p>\n
It was times like these when I frequented the creek with whomever I could bring along with me, or by myself if there was no such person. \u00a0I’ve done everything from meticulously flipping rocks in search of crayfish to floating down the water on an inner-tube. \u00a0My favorite activity, however, has to be bridge-building. \u00a0A past time that I often carried out with my cousins, bridge-building involved scanning the riverbank for appropriately sized rocks, and then compiling said rocks in the creek to form a makeshift bridge. \u00a0We had to look for rocks that were flat enough to stand on, yet light enough that we could move. \u00a0The point of this activity was to see if we could cross the creek without falling in, which doesn’t make perfect sense because we were often wet after finishing the bridge. \u00a0Tossing all those semi-boulders in the water thoroughly splashed the surrounding area. \u00a0Sometimes we succeeded, and sometimes we didn’t, but we always had fun.<\/p>\n
For me, Eighteen Mile Creek was one of those spots that led me to have a close connection to nature. \u00a0I have been able to appreciate all its forms, and I have seen how many different people interact with it. \u00a0It has been a place I go to when I need solitude, and a place I go to when I am with friends and family. \u00a0It has been a big part of my life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have always enjoyed exploring, and from my childhood to the present day I have spent a lot of time doing just that at Eighteen Mile Creek. \u00a0Originating in western NY in the Town of Lockport, Eighteen Mile Creek passes … Continue reading