the big sky

Out on the Laguna Lake trails later Thursday afternoon, home from work, a coffee at Starbucks. “Hey” to the baristas, Dylan and James. Day six.

There are more clouds now as autumn settles in, and the hillsides and mountain tops were in and out of light and shadow, shadow, and light. At times on the lower trail I would stand quietly still and watch the shadows express themselves from left to right, and then retreat. Off in the distance there was a lone black cow. Me alone in Starbucks, the cow alone on the crest of the hill.

I tried a couple of times today to convey, to folks asking, the astonishment and awe I feel every time I suit up (hiking shoes), and accept the invitation to these welcoming, shape-shifting trails, but words don’t cut it. They nearly never do.

Somber. I felt a little of that out there at Laguna Lake Thursday. I couldn’t tell you why, and I don’t have a need to know. Just reporting from here in San Luis Obispo.