I love the fall...

Leaves of gold and red crunch under my feet as I make my way back to my favorite place in the mountains.
The air is crisp today and I pull the collar of my cabled knit sweater up close to my face. Armed with my backpack and my camera I trudge onward. I made my way across the brook and up the steep embankment and there they are, the mountains. It doesnt matter how many times I make this trip they still take my breath away.
I sit on a flat rock and look down into the valley below me. There nesteled into the rugged surroundings is a ranch. White fences for as far as I can see. Cattle and horses dot the pastures.
I take out my bottle of water and as I sip the cool fluid I allow my imagination to run away with me.
I think about what kind of men must run that ranch and I can't help smile. Visions of men wearing long black dusters and wide brimed cowboy hats come to mind. I set my water back in the backpack and rest my chin on my raised knee. I go back to my thoughts and imagine myself as the heroin of some long ago time when men were men and woman were tough. A noise behind me startles me and as I turn towards it i am met with a pair of large brown eyes. I slowly pick up the camera and raise it to my face. His ears twitch and he tosses his head. His tawney coat glistens in the sunlight behind him. I snap the picture and he gives me a loud snort of displeasure and shakes his snow white tail at me then bounds off into the thicket.
The late afternoon sun begins to set as I make my way back to my car.
I pause for just a moment and think about that ranch and smile.
Its time to go home so I can once again lose myself in writing about the things I saw today while they are fresh in my mind.