Maple Leaf Falls

Yesterday we took a hike into the Forest of Nisene Marks, down a set of steep canyons and second-growth forests, on an eroded path over planks that were railroad ties long ago. We dropped into a ravine and ended up hiking straight into a creek, dead-ending at a waterfall into a pool full of twigs, boulders and newts. There were tripping roots, redwoods forming rings and overhangs with shaggy grass and moss dripping off them. We saw a lot of oozing banana slugs along the way (they look like slices of under-ripe mango) and blue-winged moths in the ferns. Not a soul was out there, and I found a spot where you can lean into the sunshine and feel the mist in your face -- and if you keep still enough, dragonflies will land on your shoulder and stay there until you shoo them away.