It rained unexpectedly last Sunday night (the one before the debate) and the next day was very windy, so I decided I needed to get up to the mountains pretty soon, even though the trees weren’t quite at their height yet. I got up there in early afternoon and came back well after night fell, after spending a breathless day up there. As usual, once I left the main trail, I was mostly alone up there. It’s pretty hard not to be filled with wonder.

It takes me quite a while to go through all the photos, both grading and re-grading them, and trying to decide which ones work best. As it happens I pulled my back in yoga class (more enthusiasm than intelligence) and it rained twice more since then, so for this year, this is what I’ve been able to photograph. One thing I hadn’t realized was that the lights of Santa Fe are visible up there through the trees once it gets dark; that’s pretty cool.

Because it was so windy, the trees were constantly blowing around and leaning and scraping against one another. During the day it was pretty cool, but after it got dark and I was alone up there, it was a little bit creepy….