In late March, the ice along the banks is completely gone and new rain regularly fills up and scrubs the creek bed clean. In places you can see the white limestone and the blue shale below the water. There are a few of last year's leaves on the oaks - they and the little bluestem in the adjacent fields glow orange. It's a quiet, lovely time of year to walk the creeks. If you're lucky, you can hear the wood frogs quacking away.