Colorado Walking

I used to call myself a runner. I still run some for training, but I do a lot more walking than running. It has become a regular part of my spiritual life--at least in the summer. Two or three times a week these days I leave the house around 6:00 AM and drive to places where I can be alone to pray as I walk. God meets me on these walks. It would be more accurate to say that I meet him. He's not the one that wonders off through the day. I can get distracted as I walk too, but usually those distractions are God's creation and the path back to Him is short. I can pick up coffee on the way home, have breakfast, clean up and be at my desk refreshed and ready to go by 9:00 AM.

This time of year the wild flowers are out in Colorado--irises, asters, columbine, lupine, shooting stars, daisies, penstamine, blue bells. I've learn many of the names, but I still can't name half of the ones I recognize. Some of the names are so unusual I remember them better than others--elephant's head, miner's candle.

One of my favorite walks is in the Black Forest, a few miles north of our home. It's one of the largest stands of Ponderosa Pines in the country, I am told. On the 4.7 mile Cathedral Pines loop I usually see only a handful of people. The path in the picture at right shows part of the trail.

Glen