amazing hikes

Almost 6 months to the day since my last post!

Every morning I hike up the hill behind the house, ostensibly to walk the dog. But it is a great way to start the day and provides a wonderful perspective to the beauty around us. It helps to ground me to the daily cycles of nature, our planet and the cosmos.

Several times in the past week I stopped on the way up and turned around to see our house below through the bare trees. On two mornings in a row, I watched as the sun first peeked over the horizon on the opposite tree-covered hillside. In a few seconds I could watch the transition from predawn dark blue sky through the bright orange glint to the full glowing orb of the sun. It is one of the best times to visibly observe the rotation of the large rocky ball on which I'm standing.

As I came down the hill, possibly on one of those mornings, the morning clouds provided a canvas for the sun to fill the sky with fiery hues. The naked black branches cutting the picture formed a morning mosaic.

Last night there was incredibly heavy rain. This morning we went up right after the rain stopped. All the trails were waterfalls! There was water everywhere, coming down in torrents in places I'd never seen it before. I stopped at a few of the rain gutters that were built into the path to keep it from eroding and removed the leafy dams that prevented the water from running off. The small lakes gushed through the newly opened outlets. All those years of childhood training in the gutters after a summer rainstorms was paying off. Farther up I found a way to break a dam to provide a release and prevent the water from running down the trail. The offending deluge was suddenly silenced.

This afternoon I went up the same trail and saw the cleared paths through the autumn leaves where the morning rivers had run. There was no water, only bare dirt with banks of leaves piled high on either side. The small pond I had drained showed clearly where I had pushed the leaves aside with my boot to open the floodgates.

This evening I went for another short walk on the bike path under the full Long Night moon. I could walk anywhere in the bright moonlight, even without a reflective snow cover, and clearly read the posted mile markers painted on the pavement.

The sun, the moon and the water were my beautiful companions on some awe-inspiring walks in mid-December.