Another Winter is over, and the ski season was cut short by a microscopic virus, closed by the governor in mid-March, high season. No Spring skiing on that so-easy to turn-on Corn Snow. Depressing, as another season on the snow ended prematurely. But I am not oblivious to the tragedy enveloping the rest of the world. Colorado itself has gotten the unwanted distinction of being the regional Rocky Mountain hotspot with so many more cases and deaths than its neighbors. With all our advanced technology, we are a long way from understanding this virus that has so heavily impacted our way of life and destroyed our world famous tourist economy. There are so many less travelled mountain trails in this beautiful state I have photographed. I was never much of a social person, keeping to myself all my life in the mountains. Social distancing comes easily for me and my dog. All I ever worry about is running into a bear with the wind on my back around a corner on a sidehill trail. Luckily, that's never happened, so far. So in a coming Summer of fear, I get off the beaten path and enjoy a little healthy solitude. Nature is best appreciated away from groups of people. Henry David Thoreau wrote about that 170 years ago in Walden Pond. Well, it's getting late, and I'm off to go hike an old horse trail in a Ponderosa Forest nearby. I'll meet no one but a squirrel.
