Wide eyed with wonder, she approaches the trail. The path is covered in wet fallen leaves. The air is filled with the scent of rain dampened earth. She breathes in deeply.
The soft rain mixes with the warmth to create a fine mist over the water. Such mystery. Standing, watching the stream, the appeal to enter the water and play is strong. She resists the temptation and moves on.
She searches the mountain hillsides crowding the trail, wondering if she'll see a bear... hoping. She pretends for a bit that she is in a rainforest. With the warm moist air, greenery, sound of soft rainfall and call of birds, it doesn't take much to imagine.
Carefully, she avoids the mud, but her eyes twinkle when she sees a clear pool of water in the trail. Without a second thought, she jumps in with both feet, laughing as the spray soaks her. Her skin and clothes are now soaked by the rainfall and her hair has become damp tendrils curled about her face.
The sun breaks through, making raindrops glisten like diamonds on the leaves. She has become lost in this fairytale landscape. Before the mountains, she never knew that magic really existed.
As quickly as the sun came, the trail dims again. She's startled by the noise of what sounds like a large animal moving through the trailside woods. Her heart races, but curiosity and an adventurous spirit wins and she moves on.
The trail splits three ways, two named trails and one unnamed trail. Of course, she chooses the unnamed trail. Carefully, making her way down this new trail that has become a creek bed in the rain. Her shoes are almost completely covered in mud now, but oh such fun!
She jumps as the sound of rustling leaves accelerates into a massive crash nearby. A tree, falling from the soft rain soaked ground, lands nearby. While the crash is startling, the thrill is undeniable.
Alone, wishing for a trail of bread crumbs to leave, she is fully immersed in the fairytale. After a time, she stops to rest on a fallen tree that is lying across the trail. Her gaze settles on a single leaf. She watches, entranced by it's tremble each time a raindrop lands on it. The mountains are filled with such tiny miracles missed, unless at times, we slow to become as a child.
Rising to leave, she looks around one more time and smiles. Thankful for this playground that she believes her Father created just with her in mind.
