Uneasy Rhetoric

For me, the trail never gets old. Since at best I’m only on it once a week, the scenery, the wildlife, the people, the river itself, change just enough each time to keep my interest. It helps that there is a certain set of smells, some good, some bad, that recall some of the favorite times in my life. If there is anything that can rejuvenate my psyche, it is a long ride on the Jedediah Smith.

Today marked my first ride this season on the trail and the first where I had to travel a fair distance to get there (six miles, as opposed to two last summer) and conditions were perfect: warm, bright, with a slight breeze. The trail was crowded, but not overwhelmingly so.

Flowers were in bloom, there was still some cottonwood crud in some places and, despite the wind and the fact that we’re not out of pollen season yet, I only had one sneezing jag.

Fauna inventory: wild turkeys, crows, a gang of magpies that were none too happy about something, a ruby-throated hummingbird (or another species with a big red splotch on it), a vulture, ducks, Canada geese, those squirrel-like things that aren’t the same as the ones in Capital Park, one lizard, and a scruffy looking coyote who didn’t seem to care that a river of humans on death machines were speeding past him. Oh, and to all of the thrill seeking bugs who found their lives cut short by my arms, legs, neck, and helmet, my apologies, but that hurt.

More photos.