Fall Beckons.....................

After fighting a gnarly cold from Sunday morning through Wednesday morning, I decided to go kick some stuffy head a$$. When I was in my 20's and 30's I was a distance runner. I'd get a head cold and wait until I could 'just' breath and then go running. Stupid, you know? But I always felt better after getting the 'juices' flowing.

So Wednesday morning after chores I grabbed a backpack and my two cohorts [dogs] ran to sit by my car. The vote was in. I could clean house, make the bed, and dust ----> or take off and do something fun. The weather was perfect in every single way that fall can produce.

The drive to the Reserve seemed to hold the promise of something beautiful.

But since I was still not recovered from the cold [think stuffy nose and stuffy head]. I decided we'd just take it slow when we hit the trails.

And we did. I took nearly an hour for our first mile. I strolled slowly letting the dogs trot ahead looking for interesting scents.

I took a maintenance trail that is almost never used. No bikes or equines are allowed there, but foot traffic is okay.

I know that last year I stopped and photographed this wild grape vine. I've always intended to come back and see it in the winter. Maybe this year.

It almost looks like some sort of alien creature!

The shot last year was much better, but I'll have to wait until later in the year to try it again!

Last year:

The bare branches of some of the young maples under the pines held my attention as the needles have been dropping from the winds decorating the bare branches.

For fun I tried a double exposure in camera. I pointed the camera at the bright part of the forest and took a shot of my hand, then pointed at the dogs for a second exposure. The effect is rather interesting.

I swapped the camera over to B&W and serendipity gave me this view of Hannah. I liked it.

I turned and spotted this highlighted maple branch that looked like it had spikes. It is just pine needles.

We lollygagged along in no hurry, so Hannah ran off in front to be called back to me. Charlie was smart and just walked alongside me unless a smell was too overpowering.

We did greet two horse back riders. But otherwise we saw no other human. In the distant ponds in the valley we could hear Canada Geese and other waterfowl calls. 

Over the years, I usually stop at this stump on the Little Canada Trail. I ask the dogs to sit on the stump for a portrait. I think these two portraits tell a tale at the different characteristics of these two dogs.

Hannah -- a goofy face.

Charlie, so stoic.

The Dragon Tree. Or.

Whatever you might see in it!

This tree has seen so much I can tell by its expression:

It took us a long time to get this trail done, but it didn't feel like it. I'm still learning to try to NOT hurry through each of my hikes but to slow down and take it all in.

Fall:

The smells of fall, 

the dropping leaves, 

the whispers of the wind in the pine trees,

The air carried a kind of quiet promise,

the kind you only hear when the season shifts.

Every trail felt like a story half‑told,

begging to be explored.

Fall didn’t just arrive — it beckoned.

it appealed to our sense of wildness,

of adventure,

and of awe.