North Woods River Runner: Creek Walk 2016

This is a revised journal article I originally wrote in the fall of 2010. The following year it was printed in the "Notes From The Dells" newsletter put out by the Severson Dells Nature Center (Part of the Winnebago County Forest Preserve). This year's Creek Walk Day was held on Friday, September 30th.

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Dry Run Creek. Its history is marked since the early 1800’s when the first white settlers came upon the land in Illinois’ northern Winnebago County. Winnebago County itself was not established until 1836, after Illinois become a state in December of 1818. Earlier that year the northern counties of Illinois almost became part of Wisconsin until the territorial representative in Congress, Nathaniel Pope, suggested that they move the state line further north. Before that time we know only bits and pieces of information in regard to this region. That information was passed down through early voyagers, as well as the tribes of native First Nation peoples who lived in, or traveled through, the vast sand prairies and the great river-ways.

For twenty-eight years now Prairie Hill School District students have had a small taste of the importance and excitement this area once held. From where I sit now, writing in my journal on this oak covered bluff, I am overlooking the big bend on the Rock River’s journey south into Rockford. Dry Run Creek is only a hop, skip, and a jump north toward the Stateline. It’s a tributary, and a small one at that, but essential none-the-less. For as its cool, clear waters trickle over shallows; twisting and turning its way southwest toward Hononegah Forest Preserve and the memories of the area's original trading post at "Bird’s Grove." It has a story to tell. It began in the creations of time, and yet still it captures my heart when I take this hike each year.

At first it was the intrigue of moving waters, and the memory of my family and youth from which I felt too far removed. When I first began teaching in the Prairie Hill District, the area was new and unfamiliar, but this creek I could relate to. This creek I could immerse myself in; and so I did. In the autumn of 1989 I brought the students of my two 5th grade science classes down to the bank of the creek, and simply started sharing small excerpts of what I knew of water and land. There is so much to the environs along this waterway, that I hardly scratched the surface of the plants and animals here. My cherished trees of Northern Michigan were far away, and I knew none of these. Life’s creation is immersed in symbiotic relationships, however, and so it was these that I attempted to share.

The 5^th grade Creek Walk has grown year by year; giving information, leading discussion, allowing for exploration, sharing the excitement, imploring the conservation, and modeling the connection. It has grown from our science classes to an entire day-long 5^th grade experience. It is a holistic endeavor. The Creek Walk now encompasses every 5^th grade teacher and subject. Over the years the team of teachers involved Deb, and Heather, and Tyler, and presently Chuck, and Jacqui, and I. With the region’s growth, the original two 5th grade classrooms have grown to three and four classes over the last eighteen years. It involves the parents, and hence the community. It has grown beyond the biological relationships of science, to the rhythms of history, stories, game, and verse. As the walk to Dry Run Creek has grown, this one day each fall embodies what we strive for; that sense of excitement that comes from creative learning. One is left wondering how it can be improved for next time. One wonders how its influence will ripple outward as the students remember and share what they’ve sensed, experienced, and learned. One ponders what the life of a teacher would be like if they had opportunities such as these in which to teach; and teach within these opportunities consistently. Would it still hold its awe? Would it still be held sacred?

It is what it is, because it is what it has become. The Creek Walk requires effort. The Creek Walk requires involvement. And that is the irony. When one thinks about Dry Run Creek, it is still out there, still trickling along, always running, always eroding one side and building onto the other. It is a living entity. It has been living for hundreds of years now since the bison and elk last drank from its waters, and yet Dry Run Creek continues to find a way to satisfy my thirst. As the sun sets to the west on my back, and the dry breezes blow, I realize that the Creek Walks have helped me in my own connection to this land. For that I give thanks.

See you along The Way…