Joan Li
Southern Indiana

I like getting lost. Southern Indiana is a place where I can get lost, but not too lost, where the two-lane highway becomes one lane, and the winding road becomes thinner and thinner, and the pavement rougher and rougher until I’m jouncing around on a rocky dirt road. It’s here, at the end of that tiny road that seems to lead to nowhere, deep in the forest, that I find a steep hill with a faint trail snaking up its green slope.

I stop the car, and dash up the trail, wondering what’s at the summit. As I reach the top, the woods reveal their secret to me—a beautiful, deep, glassy lake, surrounded by the golden fall trees without another soul in sight. I sit on the top of that hill with the bright sunlight and a chill breeze blowing and take in the peace.

Joan Li is a designer for TRAVELER.