The maps say there are 21 miles of walking trails in the Reynolds community. This sparks two questions: 1) Who did the measuring? and 2) Where do you start walking?
I ask the second question to a resident who has traversed all 21 miles — not to mention the four miles he walks for nightly appetizers at The Tavern. “Angel Pond Trail,” he says. “You can see it all. Just stay on the trail.”
So I take his advice — most of it. When I arrive after sunrise the pond looks poetic. There are reflections on the water, including mine. It takes four minutes to circum-stroll the pond and exit on a path over creeks and cute little foot bridges into woodsy views of Lake Oconee and reminders of lakeside life. Tubing. Paddleboarding. Grilling. Weekend loving. It will awake in short time.
For now, it’s quiet enough to hear a fish splash 100 yards offshore. The majestic homes give way to deeper woods. Is this still Angel Pond Trail? I lose my sense of place. One lonely house in the forest looks lost, too. A college-football flag hangs from the porch, presumably for squirrels and deer to see.
Before I see it with my eyes, I feel it with my feet: the end of the trail. The miles-long boardwalk transitions to raw earth. It’s time to turn around. Or is it? I mean, who says a walk has to be half over? This one is too relaxing, too freeing to have limits. So I pause … and trod forward, blazing into a 22nd mile of non-trail. Loving the process of getting more lost.
