Ravens of the woods

Double Ravens

Strange things happen when you least expect them in the woods of Tioga. I needed to go to town to pick up some lumber for a job I am working on. However, they have been hauling gravel in for some of Leetonia road and this involves heavy truck after truck coming down the road to dump gravel. It is difficult passing someone on these roads when I pull the trailer to pick up materials so   the thought of passing several dump trucks loaded with gravel did not appeal to me and I decided on an alternate route.
After I made it up to Wilson Point Road I turned right and headed to Ridge Road, which I would follow down to Schumaker and out to Elk Run therefore avoiding the trucks on the narrower part of Leetonia Road. This way is longer and the impatient part of me resisted, the cautious part of me won and I resigned myself to going slower way over the somewhat rougher and narrower road.
I decided rather than fighting this change I would look at it as an opportunity to see parts of the woods I don't usually travel on...sort of a mini-vacation.  The narrower road has its charm and as I passed the site of the old Lee Fire Tower, I remembered climbing up in it as a kid to see the Forest Ranger stationed there. It waved back and forth in the breeze as you got higher. My mother afraid of heights never climbed up the tower as she had a hard enough time just watching us go up.  I wished I had a picture of  the tower. I don't know why we never took any pictures. Now it is gone and so with it the chance for any pictures.
I now turned left on Ridge Road and noticed some black shapes on the road a head of me. Scooter noticed them too and watched closely as the shapes flapped their way into the air. Two beautiful Ravens now flew just above me down Ridge Road. They didn't seem in a hurry and flew almost in synchronicity. Down the narrow road they guided me not flying any faster than I was driving; not seeming at all worried about the noisy trailer I drug behind me that squeaked and popped over every pot-hole.
The longer they stayed in front of me the more I marveled at them. The Native American's view the Raven as  shapeshifter and magician of the woods. I wondered what kind of magic I would be seeing. They continued down the road so far I thought for sure they might take me all the way to town. But finally, one of them pulled up and sat on a limb watching me drive under then shortly after that the other followed suit.  Ravens and crows are some of the smartest birds on this planet able to use tools to get to food and figure out some pretty complex problems. Now I had been given a tour of Ridge Road through the eyes of the Raven all because of a detour that was the magic of the Ravens. Sometimes the best things in life come through its detours if you just look. Enjoy all your detours courtesy of the Ravens of the woods of Tioga Forest. Mountain girl, Paula,logging out.