Sunday Hike

The late afternoon sun on this late summer day shone bright yellow. Its rays angled down through the openings in the forest. It was the last Sunday in August, and we could have stayed home and done some cleaning, or worse, we could have watched TV. Instead, my sons and I went for a hike.

It had been some weeks since we'd been here. After a long, dry summer, I wondered if the trails would still be as beautiful as they were last spring. That's when the picture at the top of this website was taken. Most of the grass is brown now, although it is a golden shade of brown that we Californians appreciate and even find pleasing to look at. Half our trees keep their leaves all year long, but every summer, the grass turns golden brown. The green won't return until after the first few rains of winter.

So, yes, it was beautiful. We hiked one mile to the bluff overlooking the Feather River. On a visit several months ago, the water level, which is controlled by dams upstream, was low enough that we played in it for several hours. We were even able to wade all the way across to the other side. Usually, though, the water is higher, kept at a certain level for either boaters or fish, I'm not sure which.

I decided to see if I could take some nice pictures of the boys. They hadn't bothered to change out of the polo shirts they had worn to church. Maybe, I thought, if I was able to get at least one good shot of each of them, we could avoid having to order the overpriced pictures that will be taken at school in a week or two.

Tristan was willing to pose, although many of his poses weren't exactly what I had in mind. He made peace signs with his hands (maybe they bunny ears to him, I don't know) and goofy faces.

Ethan was just plain frustrated with me. For him, the whole point of the hike was to reach the destination, and comments such as "Oh, here's a nice spot for a picture" were annoying him.

On our way back to the car, we walked along the top of the levee, where the breeze was blowing Ethan's hair straight up and over his head. This he found funny, and decided that that was how he wanted his picture taken.