Part 1
What do I hear? Leaves in the wind, various water noises (hitting up against rock and land), distant traffic sounds, bird chirps. The car traffic is a constant, and is probably the lowest noise I hear. Bird chirps and the occasional car horn would make up the loudest. At one point and time a plane flew by over head, and that cluttered my hearing. The water splashes had a certain rhythm to it as well. I didn't notice if the wind changed that rhythm at all.
Part 2
I didn't have problems adjusting from the dominant sounds to the low frequency 'background sounds' and I think that was mainly because those background noises are a constant. I heard the 'airy low hum' of traffic, almost to the point of annoyance. Once I had to focus on other sounds I found myself having troubles. When you are not thinking about sound while walking you rarely notice the traffic sound, so to finally give it attention was a unique experience. An experience that my ears didn't want to let go of. Because I had trouble not noticing the traffic sounds I walked down the bike trail I was on and concentrated on my footsteps (lots of cool breaking noises when my feet hit twigs). After a while I was able to focus again, and really take in some of the ambient water and wind noises, and I think I may have heard a cricket at some point and time. The sound was tiny and didn't last long though.
