By: James and Peggy Lowery of Birmingham, Alabama
When the need to “shelter in” at home became apparent at the beginning of March 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19, we decided that we needed something that would “get us out of the house” on a regular basis to help us “keep our sanity” while at the same time staying away from other people.
Because we love to be around water and to do things like Alabama Water Watch monitoring, we decided that we would try to walk along some kind of waterbody every day that we could, weather permitting. We held to that goal as much as possible, and it really helped us during the year-and-a-half that we have been staying at home so much.
It did not matter what type of waterbody we walked beside as long as we could see or hear the water. Places we walked beside included streams, creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, etc. We found that, for our sanity, walking beside a waterbody was better than walking a trail that had no water beside it. Of course, walking in the woods or forests is good and beneficial, but, for our purposes, the water made the difference.
In addition to helping us “keep our sanity” during our “sheltering in” time, there are other ways that it has been beneficial for us. We have found (discovered) new trails and places to walk beside water, some of which we had no idea were there or would not have thought about walking such as McCallum Park in Vestavia, two parks in Leeds, Veterans Park in Hoover, Chief Billy Hewitt Park in Tarrant. We had driven by some of the places in the past but had never thought to stop and walk along the water there. As our “water walking plan” moved along, we specifically tried to find trails or waterbodies to walk along that we had not previously known about.
Sometimes, after we water tested at our regular Water Watch site, we would then walk along the creek, which we had not done much in the past. Another benefit was that many times we observed changes in the creek upstream or downstream as we walked that we would not have seen if we had just water tested then left the site. On our walks along the waterbodies, we saw aquatic birds, fish, tadpoles, and turtles in places where we would not have thought they would be in the urban environment.
What about now that we are vaccinated and will not be “sheltering in” as much? We have continued, and plan to continue, walking beside a waterbody as often as possible. So, did it help us “keep our sanity”? Only others around us can determine that! We think it helped!
