Walks with Percy

Today was a special walk.  I took Percy for a hike in City Creek Canyon - an off-leash treat wherein Percy gets to explore to his heart’s content, and I get to focus on my own walk.

This one was breathtaking.  Fall is just settling into the city, after having moved violently down the mountainsides like wildfire.  People say New England is the place to see fall colors - but here, you can see them coming for 6 weeks.

In City Creek, the maples and scrub oaks are half green and half red.  The air a crisp autumn flavor.  The trail basically deserted with the summer.  Percy and I found ourselves mostly alone on this fiery morning.  The effect was mesmerizing and healing.

But nothing more so than the reflection of early morning sunlight on the bubbling waters of City Creek.  Such a huge change from the spring, when the creek swelled over its banks and churned toward the valley.  Today, it meandered.  It sang.  It flowed like molten gold, reflecting the mountainside above it where the grasses have all turned yellow.

I could commemorate the beauty of autumn every day of it’s breathtaking stay.  I could talk about the ways that it moves me - to reflection, to renewal, to refocused energy.  I would never grow tired of it.  But I might run out of words to describe it, and so I think I will end here.

Let’s just say, Percy will be enjoying this particular jaunt again very soon.

Today, the original musing happened while on an hour-long urban hike through downtown Salt Lake City with my 33-pound Boston Terrier, Percy. 

It was simple, really.  I have been blogging all summer about Great Salt Lake, and as summer is coming to an end, my thoughts have been - what is next?

I’ve been considering some “Back to School” resolutions to try and answer that question, even though I’m not in school anymore.  Every fall, I still feel that call to renewal - new things to learn, new places to go, new clothes to wear.  :)

The resolutions I’ve been tossing around?  Write more.  Walk more.  Slow down.  Spend time with those I love.  Simplify.

So on this 6 AM walk with Percy, I had the idea to start this blog.  It seems to be an answer to all of those resolutions.  If I blog about the things I see and think about while walking with Percy, then I will be writing, walking, slowing down, spending time with a little guy that I love, and simplifying.

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