Trail Magic

My Favorite Place

By Michelle Basler

My favorite “place” is not so much an exact coordinate or specific magical hideaway that I seek out when I’m spending time at Indian Creek Nature Center, but rather can be ANY place on the trail where I decide to stop and REALLY focus. Let me explain. Going back a few years I was an avid trail runner. I was fully consumed with the sport of ultra running. An ultra marathon is anything above and beyond the typical 26.2 mile marathon. Most are measured in K’s instead of miles. 50K, 100K … we trail runners apparently run better via the metric system. Anyway, trail running was my passion. I have reflected a lot over the years on why I became so enamored with the sport and have decided it is my love of nature more than my love of earning a race day trophy that led me down that path, literally and figuratively.

The crazy amount of hours one has to put toward training in order to make it across the finish line of a 50K means a LOT of time in nature. And, don’t get me wrong, winning a tough, rugged trail race did NOT make me unhappy. I taught myself how to confidently navigate ALL the local trail systems and earned quite a reputation as “the one who can show you around without getting lost.” I was quite proud of this. Actually, I still am.

I won’t go into a lot of detail, but I have had a myriad of mysterious health issues since the birth of my youngest son in 2009. In 2020 the persistent annoyances that often accompanied these “issues” really took a downward spiral and I bought myself a ticket to a whole new type of ultramarathon. That of getting a diagnosis for an incredibly rare and devastating chronic illness. Like I said, I won’t go into a lot of detail but running became impossible. Honestly, even walking was a challenge. In the years I spent voyaging from doctor to doctor, begging for answers, I slowly abandoned the trail. For me, the trail represented all I had lost. Running ALL the miles had become a huge part of my identity and now I could no longer do that. 

In 2023, Indian Creek Nature Center celebrated 50 years of creating Champions of Nature. In June, as part of that year-long celebration, ICNC hosted a “BioBlitz” which is a communal citizen-science effort to record as many species within a designated location and time period as possible. So, an attempt to record all the living species on Indian Creek Nature Center property. We utilized the iNaturalist app and, in typical Michelle fashion, I not only embraced the challenge, I took it to a whole ‘nother level. Ultra iNaturalisting? I made it a thing! Hahahaha. In one week’s time, I managed to observe 302 plants and animals, of which, there were 165 unique species. That one event sparked a whole new trail joy in me. I learned a fresh method of trail magic and it was just as intoxicating to my spirit as ultrarunning had been. 

I found that at any point in the day, venturing just a short distance onto the trail and stopping and quietly inspecting a 15 foot (that’s 4.57m for you metric loving ultrarunners) swath along the path yielded bugs and beetles and spiders and flies and mushrooms and flowers and so many magical things. The quieter I became, the more I would discover and this absolutely fascinated me. Every blade of grass, every bloom, every tree and leaf was teaming with life. Anyone who knows me well is not surprised by this at all. It was ME that was so astounded. In the year that has passed since that BioBlitz, I have made more than 1,000 observations. That means I have more than 1,000 discoveries that I found incredible enough to photograph and log into the iNaturalist app. That also means I have clearly stopped avoiding the trail. In that year, the grand total mileage I have covered probably only equals about what “running me” would have covered on one easy training day. Yet, the amount of joy and fulfillment is exactly the same. 

Today, my “finish line buckle” is a tiny gray tree frog perched on a black-eyed Susan, swaying in the sunrise breeze. To celebrate, I will treat myself to a banana, a granola bar and an ice bath. Maybe. Or maybe I’ll go inspect another 4.57m first. You see, my favorite “place” is not so much an exact coordinate or specific magical hideaway that I seek out when I’m spending time at Indian Creek Nature Center, but rather can be ANY place on the trail where I decide to stop and REALLY focus. The magic is limitless. I call this “soul” training. And I’m in it to win it.