Seasonal Hiking

 The sound of the creek gets softer as the trees get shorter and we near the peak of the mountain. The brusk fall air makes my body temperature stay low unlike the long, hot hikes of midsummer. A sign marks that we've entered the alpine zone and the trees begin to disappear. My spirits rise as I can now see the rocky top of the mountain, although we still have a good amount of ridgeline to hike along. I drop my bag to grab my windbreaker since we are now above the trees the wind whips through the valleys and up the mountain towards us. We make the summit and I can barely hear voices of the other hikers as they are carried away by the wind.  

It's a beautiful day, few clouds, brilliant blue sky, glistening sun, and the foliage is amazing. Red,brown,green,orange, and yellow stretch for miles and peaks barely emerge in the far distance, The peacefulness is like a bath in nature, places like these are the farthest most people can get away from society sometimes. I snap some photos knowing they will never give the view justice but it's ok. I munch on some trail mix and embrace the last minutes of scenery before we begin our trek down.

 Climbing down the big boulders and entering the mossy forest we take it slow and take in every detail. Some places on the trail are like their own little world, moss everywhere, mushrooms, full of life, and little streams dripping down mossy rocks. After a couple hours we hop back into our little red truck and head to the closest subway for our usual steak and cheese sandwich after hikes.