Very few trail scenes beat the look and feel of running thru a silent and still misty forest. It's like all the rest of the universe drops away, and all that remains is my body, the trail, and a small bubble of peace and tranquility that moves with me through the cool, gray void 🌲🩶
Lilo pretends that she's considering going around the puddle rather than thru it, but she and I both know what's really gonna happen as we run down this section of trail 😆
I like how the water looks almost like ice in this still; more, I like the lesson that even the smallest waterfall is mighty from a certain perspective 💦
When you've been running for a couple hours and you reach that sign deep in the forest reminding you that you have miles yet to go to get back to where you started 🏃♂️😅
Here's another photo of a scene that isn't extraordinary in the places I love—but ordinary or extraordinary, I love it all 💚
Grateful to the trail volunteers who hike out to Bumblefuck with tools and lumber to make bridges that protect sensitive waterways from the soles of souls such as mine 🙏
I wasn't sure I would share this photo because it's a scene that feels common in the forests I love, but then I realized that's exactly why I should share:
Not all the magic of life is extraordinary—sometimes we live with magic all around us. It's important that we remember to pause and be grateful for everyday magic 🙏💚
Also:
Here's another example of Sol's mighty power, the light of our life so bright that its radiant orb occludes a tree trunk set between the sun and the camera. I love that ☀️😮💛
I captured both of these scenes on the same day, on the same run. Crossing the snowline, in both directions, was like stepping into an entirely different world. Magical 🤩
It's always interesting running a course in reverse—familiar sections are made novel with the new perspective. It's a good reminder to look at my life from a new angle once in a while: try to see what others are seeing, look for details I've missed, try to see the good in the things that have caused me pain and the beauty in the things I've taken for granted.
Another skyward-perspective of a magnificent tree 🌲 I like how the lighting of this shot makes it so that the undersides of each branch are so dark as to appear black, yet the glow of daylight illuminates the outside edges, giving each branch a green halo of sorts.
If you only knew how often I look at a tree like this and imagine myself as some anime ninja, springing from branch to branch, climbing the Tree of Heaven to the realm of the gods 🥷😅
One of the great things about trail running is finding these places that feel like worlds unto themselves, where one can run forever and forget the hard reality of life off the trail.