30 November 2014

Fall Musings

This is my favorite time of year. The days are chilly and the nights are near freezing leaving only the heartiest of souls to brace them. In have always believed that the best way to bond with friends is by fire light under the winter sky. Days are gray and dreary. For late Appalachian falls, the temps during the day lazily rise into the thirties but rarely any higher. Eventually that subtle crisp in the air that lingers in your nose, that faint nip of the cold to come, continually reminds you that winter is around the corner. This is the best time to view mountain wildlife. Animals of all shapes, sizes, and order hurry to and fro preparing for their winter routine....guided by a subconscious owner's manual, a primal Winter for Dummies, as if synchronized by an evolutionary choreographer. The once inconspicuous are now outed by the fallen leaves they trod. This is the time to slow down, to observe Mother Nature, to listen to her. The days are progressively becoming shorter as the year moves closer to winter solstice. In the fleeting moments of the fall season, the local flavor of outdoor sports begin to drift toward snow sports. Those labeled sadistic by the meek will continue to hike, climb, and fish against the white backdrop that is the winter landscape. To these winter wayfarers, the anticipation of the snowy transformation grows with every shortening, bustling, leafy fall day.