When more than one blog reader emails me to ask whether I’m OK — the tenor of these blog posts having changed so markedly since I got home, to say nothing of my comments elsewhere — then it’s time to go for a walk.
Which I did this afternoon, with Matthew. It was a short walk, a mile and a quarter, but one fifth of that first mile involved a climb of 260 feet and change. If the Bright Angel Trail climbed that steeply from the Colorado River, its top end would be 5600 feet above the South Rim. We went from Earth Island — much of the source of my foul mood, and about which I will have an announcement before long — down Sansome Street and up the mildly famous Filbert Steps, the home of the slightly more famous Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
The parrots were not in evidence on the steps. A couple had squawked overhead as we passed Green Street.
But the climb was exhilarating and fun. Coit Tower was relatively devoid of tourists, the missing ones perhaps mindful of Bill O’Reilly’s invitation to terrorists to blow the thing up. More view for us. The ceanothus are blooming on Telegraph Hill tonight, and though we talked at the time about their bloom coming rather early I think they’re not really all that far off their usual schedule.
The mockingbirds, however, are damned early. I went for a second walk with Zeke after I got home, and they were singing already. White-tailed kites screamed back and forth across the park’s night sky. This Saturday is the day we somewhat arbitrarily celebrate Zeke’s 15th birthday, though I haven’t bought him anything. Sophie will be coming over for a tea party with Auntie Becky that afternoon — because, as you know, we hate children — and Zeke will likely want to be somewhere else. I missed him on last weekend’s hike, as slow as he would have been. His front legs are ready to play, but his back legs increasingly betray him. I think maybe I’ll find a nice flat hike for us on Saturday, for an hour or two. I hope he can hang on until the end of the year so that I can spend most days with him.
But that’s getting ahead of things.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
Categories:
Hiking
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