On the Road to Waterton: Part II

In love am I here along the creek. Each time I come to Waterton Canyon I bike a little further in along the Denver Water works road. On this day I met up with Bighorn sheep grazing on winter grasses. The view is winter brown and the sheep can be lost amongst the rocks and nearly impossible to see. There are aspects that feel monochromatic in all that beige and brown. Yet winter brings out the harder edges and the deep crevices, summer hid with leaves. Later when I play in black and white the contrast of tree against the ridge is striking. The blue of the sky missed peering down the canyon is remembered in digital, as if I just walked back in.

On this day I biked alone. Something I’ve taken to doing a lot lately. For many of us, myself included, we wait to do things until the right companion comes along, but then the spring becomes summer and the summer fall. Time ticks by and the trail you longed to walk remains unsullied by the gum of your boot. The turn of light has come and gone and the boat-tailed grackles have left the nests. Waiting to do the things we love becomes it’s own form of aging, because the longing eats away our sense of promise and youth. More importantly we miss what good company we make. Friendship is so much sweeter when first we befriend ourselves.