Abandoned Line

With the arrival of a new reality, where normal patterns stop, I look for alternatives. Within view of my front door is an abandoned railroad track, extending for many miles through the County of Mendocino. In three months of walks I have encountered 3 people and a dog, many deer, jack rabbits, turkey vultures, and red tailed hawks. And scrap iron evidence of people's former presence. The soundtrack is of birds and of the Russian River, running parallel to the tracks below me. A peaceful paradise. When the grass got tall and off track paths dissipated, I stayed on the trestles. The last time I veered off I found a buck's skull nestled in the poison oak. As I studied that I was reminded, with the sound of a rattlesnake, that this was shared territory, and I was visiting.