It was late enough in the day that dinner was no longer a vague thought. There wasn’t time for a long hike. Luckily, it’s a five-minute drive to half a dozen paths.

Yesterday it was Beckman’s Trail, an easy two-mile loop that wound up and around itself. There were boulders and grass and a strange yellow fungus foaming around the base of a tree. 

The climb was mellow and the air was bracing. It was over far too quickly.