“Okay, here’s what we have to do. We’re going to lower ourselves about three feet down into the gully and then climb about four feet up on the other side, and then we have some briars to work through… but it’ll be fine!”

These are the words I heard as my dad and I began hiking back to the watershed lake that sits about a mile behind my childhood home.

The challenge didn’t phase me, though.

I had spent my whole childhood, teenage, and young adult years exploring these woods, and I was excited about the adventure.