Visitors 124
Modified 15-Feb-23
Created 28-Aug-20
21 photos
A peaceful start to another warm day. Coal Mine Ridge is dry. Amidst the muted autumn colors, browns and quiet greens, bright rust-orange highlights catch the eye: poison oak leaves, madrone bark. A covey of quail scratch for edible seeds, the male's belly shading toward golden yellow from the rust-orange of the madrone.
I visited Coal Mine Ridge two weeks ago, before the spectacular lightning storm and the steel-grey light after the soaking rain, before the tedious bronze days of nearby fires and oppressive smoke. In this hot dry summer, our tangled wildlands are precious. May we be safe from crimson wildfire and bone-white smoke for another year.
