This is still one of my favorite places on earth. Even after straightline winds knocked down every oak and sycamore a couple years back, opening up the canopy. Even after the stream started showing up in magazines, in calendars, on coffee mugs. Even after the state installed a manicured trail leading from the gravel parking lot to the stream, and additional, overflow parking, for the hot summer days.
The water’s up and dingy from recent rains, tinted green among pink bluffs and boulders. Maybe if it were fishable I’d be thinking less about progress among these billion and a half year old rocks and centuries-old pines.
This is still one of my favorite places on earth.
Before it was mine, it was someone else’s.
Now, it’s everyone’s.
The outside bend. 