A salty tale from York River State Park

Something sounds alarming.

A high-pitched tone like a phone alarm, but less annoying, issues from the forest canopy.

Bird? Insect?

I can’t identify it, or much of anything else, in this unfamiliar watery environment.

A sharp call rises above the buzz. Osprey. This I know.

I emerge from the green and brown world at Bald Eagle Overlook. Taskinas Creek curves through marsh grass. A flare of deep brown, wings edged white, soars toward a stand of evergreens. Could it be?

The wingspan’s large, but nowhere near six feet. Must be another osprey.

A jumble of the birds swirls above the trees. Calls echo.

Back into the forest. The path flirts with the marsh. I smell the tang of low tide. Fall nudges in. Red leaves spotted black coat the path like ladybugs.

The trail ends and I walk down to the York River, wide enough to be a bay. Wind whips the water at Fossil Beach. The eternal wave sound lulls me. The only fossil I find: an orange and blue crab claw.

This is my first solo hike. If you don’t count the endless days of childhood wandering swampy paths along the Yazoo River. Or the short trail I walked along the Tombigbee River’s old channel at sunset.

I need lunch, and I have work to do before my conference starts.

Still, I dawdle at the Taskinas Creek Overlook. A swallowtail butterfly swoops yellow and blue onto a flower. I watch it dine on blooms for several minutes. Maybe I’ll leave when it flies away.

But the butterfly settles in, right where it belongs.

Hike length: 4 miles

Difficulty: easy

Trail traffic: very light

Wildlife spotted: squirrels, osprey, butterflies, swifts