By Jake Schroeder | Photographer
The world we live in is a crazy, bustling place filled with mind-numbing work and enough distractions to waste your life away with. Humans were never meant to spend 95% of our time indoors and in front of screens. The conversation about the good and bad of technology is overdone already, so there’s no need to rehash it.
The important thing is that college students are at a time in their lives when it is best to form lifelong habits. For all the negative habits you are certainly instilling in yourself during your time at Baylor, there’s one positive habit worth forming that makes up for it: take a short trip out into nature.
I’m sure many of you love a good afternoon walk or morning run; those are certainly great habits to have that help you either decompress in the middle of a long, stressful week or wake you up for the day with a much-needed energy boost.
What I offer is not a replacement for these activities, but something to do in tandem with them. Taking a trip out into nature is an intentional step of embracing the simple things in life, finding clean air to breathe and an oasis from all the noise that comes with life in the 21st century.
So you want to take “a trip out into nature,” whatever that means. What does that look like for you?
Well, if you’ve lived in Waco for any length of time, you’ve probably heard about or been to Cameron Park. The city of Waco website calls it a “416-acre oasis with towering trees, two rivers, breathtaking cliffs, playgrounds and a multi-use National Recreation Trail System.”
If you’ve ever been, you know that’s not terribly far from the truth.
The whole park system has a wide range of trails that are fun to traverse when you need a small break from campus. I’ve seen people put up hammocks on the side of cliffs and people enter the water sometimes. I don’t know if I’d ever do that purposefully, but it’s certainly an option.
The park provides students with a great place to spend some time alone or with friends, where they can relax a bit. Cameron Park has its flaws, though, and sometimes it still feels a little too close to the city.
If you’re looking for something a bit farther away, Mother Neff State Park is a wonderful option, and only about 33 miles from campus.
I recently discovered the park, but it has been a great opportunity to get away from Waco during my longer breaks in the week. For just $2 a day or $70 for a yearlong pass (that gives you access to all 88 Texas State parks), you get access to 259 acres of trails, caves and camping grounds.
It’s pretty small and manageable, and you can easily hit all the trails in one day or come back each day for a week and explore a new trail, as I did.
Walking along the trails, I was rarely stuck behind anyone or having to shuffle past, as the park isn’t as crowded as several others I’ve visited. It’s far enough away that the worries can get left back in Waco, but close enough that if those worries call you several times in a row, you can book it back to campus in under 40 minutes.
There are several others of varying quality within about a two-hour drive that I plan to explore soon (thanks to the $70 yearlong pass), but for those looking to spend a quick day away from campus without spending too much on gas, Mother Neff State Park’s a great option.
I couldn’t talk about local and state parks without talking about what has really ignited my love of spending time out in nature. The U.S. national parks rival any I’ve seen from around the world.
The variety and beauty they provide are unmatched and worth a trip if you get the chance. The U.S. has 63 congressionally designated national parks, and they’re all gorgeous — even you, Gateway Arch.
If you’re stuck on which one to visit, visit all of them. You won’t regret it.
An important thing to remember is that as long as you’re spending time in nature, you’re doing better than sitting inside behind a computer screen. If you’re looking for “third places” or a break from the hustle and bustle of life as a college student, a park is the perfect place to start.
Also, you might be living under a rock if you’ve not heard, but it’s important to remember that these spaces are fragile and constantly at risk.
Proposals have been made to cut $736 million from the National Park Service’s budget — nearly 25%.
If you think that they’ll stop there, think again. If they can take an inch, they’ll take a mile, and if you think that national and state parks aren’t at risk of being wiped out, just remember the $500 billion increase in the military’s budget has got to come from somewhere.
