Deep within Guilford Woods, far beyond anything resembling a beaten path, Cayce Burch ’16 stops in his tracks. He is standing amid a cluster of trees and his thoughts. It’s not uncommon for Cayce to get lost in the woods, physically and spiritually. There are afternoons, he says, he’ll drop by intent on staying for a few minutes only to linger, like old friends do, before finally excusing himself as nighttime gathers.

But on this day there is only brilliant sunshine. He closes his eyes and cranes his neck toward the sun the way the ferns at his booted feet are doing. His eyes are closed and the sun that finds its way through the canopy of hickories, maples and oaks, warms his face. Cayce smiles before finally speaking. “This is like home,” he says, only to correct himself. “This is home.”

What is it about reveling in the great outdoors that promotes human health? Studies show that spending time in natural environments can lead to lower stress levels and higher energy. Cayce says he’s proof of that research and adds that Guilford Woods offers him something no study can measure: peace.

He was a frequent visitor to the College’s woods as a student and even now, all these years later, is still drawn to the solitude it offers. Almost always he is accompanied by the Canon digital camera his late grandfather gave him for his 21st birthday. He’s produced hundreds of images of Guilford Woods, Guilford Lake and the wildlife that call both home.

Some of those images will be on display in the Hege Academic Commons later this year as part of an exhibit of Cayce’s work. A barred owl, bathed in moonlight, stares down from a maple tree. Click. A heron stands atop a wood piling protruding from Guilford Lake. Click. Together, the images tell the story of a place many Guilfordians are fond of.

Known as the New Garden Woods in the 1800s, Guilford Woods is a 240-acre tract of biodiversity that encompasses old growth forest and at least one ancient tree standing as a silent witness. The woods were a refuge for enslaved Africans seeking freedom through the Underground Railroad.

In another way, the woods serve as a refuge for Cayce, too. His childhood was anything but ideal. Cayce’s mother, who has schizoaffective disorder, suffered a breakdown when he was 12, and jumped off a building with his little sister. Thankfully, they both survived. His father, who passed away in 2020, suffered from addiction issues, and relapsed throughout Cayce’s middle and high school years.

“By the time I was in high school I had a pretty serious grasp on mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness,” he says. “I spent my younger years moving around a lot, I had just enough time to settle in before moving again,” he says. “There never seemed to be any stability, or anchor, until I moved to Greensboro.”

Cayce found that anchor in Guilford Woods. He still does. “When I’m walking through the woods I recognize just how wild everything is,” he says. “And yet the woods still finds its own balance.

It's still doing what it has done for a very long time, which is that it survives and continues to grow. That brings me an inner peace and relaxation, a sense of tranquility when I leave that I didn’t have when I went in.”

In some ways, Cayce knows every inch of the woods. In other ways, he says, he’s only now coming to appreciate all that it offers. On a recent hike after a winter rain he stumbled across beading water dripping off a beech tree leaf.

Cayce put down his camera and stared. The water was so clear he could see the refraction of the woods behind each drop. “It was like each drop was its own little lens on the woods,” he says.

He likes coming across trees that are diseased or have been struck by lightning yet still find a way to grow. The metaphor is not lost on him. “They’re damaged and yet they still don’t care,” he says. “At the end of the day a tree can be half of what it was a year ago but it’s still growing. That’s pretty amazing. I think all of us feel like that once in a while — some of us maybe every day.”

And there lies the pull to Guilford Woods for Cayce. “Whether it’s something in my life or a bad day at work, the woods is a place where I can go and rethink what it is I want or what I’m doing and is that the direction I want to go in?” he says. “That’s a pretty powerful influence from the woods. It's a pretty positive influence, too.”