It’s warmer today, and brighter. My winter coat flaps open and feels intermittently like a mistake, until a sudden cool gust makes me glad to have it.
Birds call, dogs bark, voices drift lightly above the background drone of midday traffic. The sky is a patchwork of blue with occasional brushes of sunshine.
Fifteen minutes they said. I’m somewhat skeptical. I tried this before in January. This trail is supposed to connect to Saint Stanislaus, I never found it when I looked before, but it was later in the day, and the sun was setting early, so my chances seemed better today.
Follow the red blazes and 15 minutes of steady hiking should get me to the paved connecting trail. I mentally adjusted that to at least 20, since there’s nothing steady about my endless discovery of a new photo op.
It’s actually there! One startled toddler, running ahead of his parents, and several somewhat scary sets of muddy railroad tie steps, and I emerge from the woods and onto the trail.
Swampy low lands and the half flooded trail hum with the drone of frogs and the clatter of the woodpeckers dinner bell.
The sunshine is steady and warm by the time I walk back, and the coat is now tied around my waist.
The park is filling with walkers and bird watchers and a teenager kicking a ball around.
Mostly still distant, we smile and nod and move on in our quiet worlds.
Rambling ... 