I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
KingMidget's Ramblings
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A Weekend Walk
Posted by on January 16, 2021
A couple of weekends ago, I went for a walk with a friend. We met at the Cosumnes River Preserve and walked the 4+ miles of trails. We talked about some struggles he’s going through. I took a few pictures and shared a couple at the end of this post. The following weekend, I went back with the missus. We walked the trails. I took a few pictures. We enjoyed the peace and quiet. I shared my famous duck butt photo and a couple more in this post.
The problem with those two walks from a photographic perspective was that the preserve was shrouded with fog both days. No sun shining. No blue sky. And hardly a creature around. At some point after last weekend’s walk, I decided I was going to try to go there every weekend for the foreseeable future. Until I get tired of it and decide to head somewhere else.
I went back today. There was no fog, but it remains winter. There is little in the way of greenery and the birds and waterfowl are still rare. They are definitely not present in the numbers I saw the first time I went to the preserve a few years ago. (For those who have read The Irrepairable Past, this is where I took the picture that ended up on the cover of the book. The day I took that picture, there were birds and ducks and egrets and herons and who knows what else literally everywhere. That’s what I’m waiting for.)
But there are still things to take pictures of and that’s what I’m going to focus on in my walks to come. Today, I offer you … the trees of the Cosumnes River Preserve.
And one final image. Some day soon, these wetlands will be filled with waterfowl of all types. I can’t wait.
KingMidget's Ramblings 
Big, old, winter-bare deciduous trees always look great.
If there’s another foggy day in the near future, I’m going to go back for more pictures of the trees. Adds to the eeriness.
You’re right. Old oaks especially.
There’s something about the grasses in those pictures that speaks to me. Here, our grass just disappears under snow during winter. You forget it’s even there. But for your climate, it almost looks like a different world. Really great photos, Mark. I’d not realized that this is where you took the photo for the cover of TIP.
We definitely don’t have that snow problem here. 😉 The last time I saw snow fall in Sacramento was over 40 years ago.
It’s just so different in the winter here. It’s like something stops. The grass stops, the trees stop. Here, in the winter, everything stops. It’s still beautiful, but in an entirely different way. It feels to me like you guys live in a long fall, one that stretches so far that it paints out a world I’ve never really experienced. I find that kind of mind-blowing.
Winter as a long Fall. That sounds about right.
That gnarly tree with the ocean wavy field in the foreground looks so other-worldly.