Maps Of A Mysterious World Under Reedy River

I love maps.

Already when I was a kid I loved looking at maps. Tracking all the roads and other lines with my fingers, wondering where these would go and how the places on the maps would look in real life.

A map to me always holds a promise of adventure and discovery.

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking downtown Greenville (South Carolina). It was a rather hot day, and I enjoyed getting some cooler air near Reedy River in Falls Park. Although still not recommended for swimming and wading, the river is much more cleaner now than it must have been during the heydays of textile industry in Greenville. Families were picnicking on the meadow at the bottom of the falls, and some elderly folks were enjoying the sight from a bench.

Walking back, I had to cross the river over the South Main Street bridge and looking down I noticed the flat rocky bottom of the river. Because there was not much water in the river, the bottom was partially dry. And I thought how much the rock and some of the still wet patches on it reminded me of maps. There in front of me, on the rocky river floor, the geography of an undiscovered world was visible.

Usually hidden by the flowing water, the dark and light patches on the rock looked like rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges on abstract maps.

A mysterious new world, waiting to be explored.