#3

For the sanctuary I discovered today—seemingly so far from the city yet right in the middle of it—and the family of coyotes that welcomed me as I crossed its threshold into their world, one without traffic noise, houses, or any mechanized thing.  If not for the communications towers adorning a number of the peaks, I would have thought I was truly out in the middle of the desert.  For the long moments of solitude between other hikers, for the mountains that enclose the valley and the city with the foresight to keep it wild, I am grateful.  It allowed me to fall almost in love with the desert again, like I first did 10 years ago, like I only seem to when I’m alone with it.