April 17, 2010 2:20 p.m.

April 17, 2010 2:20 p.m.
James Dilley Preserve – Laguna Beach

Working our way to the top


parking lot

canyon trail

200 years of oak

bird songs

insect hum

sharing



poison oak

monkey faced flowers

a heart-shaped cactus warning of dangerous love

the further we go, the more challenges appear



We stop short of the summit. We’re stopped by the persistence of time and the steepness of the road ahead. It’s not an impossible path; we’re just out of time. But, it’s okay—this path not taken because we get the chance to retrace our steps, do over, and see what we missed before.

For a scant few hours we are a chain on a trail, sharing words, thoughts, ideas and impressions in an eternal landscape that stretches forwards and backwards in time. Although we leave no trace on the trail, we are humans sharing the same experience, temporarily united. Together we’ll carry the unique impressions of this day always, having chosen to spend and not waste the afternoon of this day.

Even though we left no trace on the trail, we’ll leave a fingerprint on each other’s lives. And from the bottom to the top, we are forever changed.