Saturday, September 01, 2012

This morning, fall is in the air. A fire somewhere in the neighborhood; smoke smell lingers. The sirens yesterday made the dog howl. The chickens mumble and cawk. The cat across the alley is out yowling.    If I leave the back door open, Felix stands on the back porch and barks. At nothing.

Today, Holly and I will go to Annette Lake. Roughly 8 miles in and out. A pretty lake to swim in. Not too much elevation gain and way up the pass. Until you penetrate the tree line, you can still hear traffic.
In a few weeks, we're planning a backpacking overnight.  Maybe to Rainier, the most wondrous of mountains. Sometimes all the mountains are out; the Cascades, the Olympics, Baker to the north and Rainier to the south. Today might be such a day.



I'm grateful I can still hike. Grateful to this older body. Two types of hikers I see; young fit people with dogs, kids, inadequate footwear and no water and older retired folks, all decked out in small backpacks, water, walking poles and expensive hiking boots. The youngsters are careless. Their bones are strong, their muscles and ligaments flexible. They're the ones who trail run. The older folks are more careful and deliberate. They're wearing hats and sunscreen. They walk slowly. They're looking through binoculars at the distant snowfields. We nod at each other as we pass.

Maybe today we'll see some wildlife. Or not. Maybe I'll go swimming and yelp as I hit the cold water.



3 comments:

Radish King said...

These are so beautiful and you're right. I have become a careful walker. There were zero jellyfish at Golden Gardens today and zero fishermen fishing on the dock which is a first for this season. I love September month of freshly shaved pencils and the garden beating its breath. It was 53 degrees when I woke.

love,
Rebecca

ps. I'm going swimming today too.

Ms. Moon said...

I didn't actually go swimming but I did baptize myself in the cold water of Wakulla Springs. Just as we were about to go swimming, it began to pour rain- so what, right? but all of our stuff was there to be rained on. I stood in the water up to my knees, turned to go back to the bank, then turned back to the springs and shallow-dived in. It was glorious, even that short moment.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Thank you for the photos, for thoughts about mountains and a lake and trails. Here, winds from a tropical storm off of Mexico and our version of big surf. Nothing to match Rainier for a thousand miles. xo