Institute Woods

Midterms loom in the all-too-near future, a problem set is due Monday, and it's time to start memorizing a poem for my freshman seminar - but that all disappears as I walk down Springdale Road on the way to the Institute Woods and a smudge on the sidewalk catches my eye. Brushing back the still-moist fall foliage, I see one word etched long ago into drying concrete: PEACE. It's as if someone knows what I have in store.

Behind the Institute for Advanced Study lie 589 acres of pristine woods, wetlands and farmland, bordered by Stony Brook and the Delaware and Raritan Canal. As fall reaches its peak, this is the perfect time to explore the network of walking trails traversing the forest. You won't regret it.

Stepping onto the first trail I come across, I am surrounded by a silence that exists nowhere on campus - least of all the libraries. In this sanctuary of tranquility and contemplation, you are alone among the acorns, moss and rustling leaves. Continuing down to the river, you can watch the leaves lazily drift with the current, reminding us that sometimes a journey without a destination can be the most valuable - something that we here at Princeton are inclined to forget.

As a couple passes me on a trail, I hear the man say, "I have my poem memorized. Do you want me to recite it?" Now my poetry assignment has been decided. After today's excursion, what could be more fitting than memorizing Robert Frost's "A Road Not Taken"?

To Get There: From Nassau Hall, walk west, and then turn left on Mercer St., and then another left on Olden Lane, make a right onto Einstein. (30 minutes)