After the Caldor Fire, and then so much snow last winter in the high country, some roads were slow to re-open; but I promised myself a trip up there this July – just Loki and me and my memories:
Birthday Hike with Dog
The peaks are taking off their snowy
cassocks, letting them ripple downstream
to bloom as columbine and paintbrush
in the meadow,
and the whistle song of chickadee
and nutcracker's gravelly call.
Loki thrusts her muzzle deep into green
I couldn't name, stopping me
on the edge of our upward trail to sniff
who knows what. This hike
a birthday gift to myself, and my dog
as guide, partner, companion.
Generations of shepherd-dogs have
led me up this trail. It's Loki's first time;
and already she knows more
about it than I ever will.
Her stop gives me pause to notice
what I call red trumpet-flower
playing its wind-song to cloudless sky
on a reborn Sierra morning.
~ Taylor Graham
