Yikes, a hike

Usually Jimmie and I take long morning walks. The Backbone Trail hike is, a hike. Three miles of zig-zagging and half of it is up hill with a patch of stretching-over-boulders thrown in for variety. The back and forth seems endless and this time I felt it even the day after. Gone are the days of quick muscle recovery. First time for Jimmie and maybe the last time for me.

Years have gone by since I was here last but I still remember the underside of boulders and the earth on the upper trail, red-tinted. And trees. Ah the deep-red bark trees. What are they? I see them on no other trails and only higher up on this one. It's been years, seven or ten, since I was here last and there are fewer of these trees; the bark peeling in a way that's new to me. But I think of them on some morning walks because I don't see them anywhere else, they're a kind of unique beauty, found in a unique place.

A helicopter was the only sound barging into nature. It was a hillside away, then it hovered over an empty intersection, it came nearer and nearer and finally, it was just above Jimmie and I. A welcome sight if I were lost but today the whirrrrrrring wasn't welcome.

The pay off is the summit. The reward for slogging along like molasses up hill is standing in one spot and seeing The Valley on one side and The Ocean on the other. June gloom clouds covered the ocean but I've seen it before, it's there. Quiet and spectacular nature as far as the eye can see. 

The best kind of morning, with my best friend.