Today Karen and I hiked seven point four miles on Upper Pipeline trail near Mission Ridge Ski Area. I felt thrilled to be hiking again, after being stuck indoors for two weeks due to hazardous wildfire smoke (felt like forever). In my element.

Each time a helicopter went over, we scanned the sky anxiously for smoke. On the trail, we found cougar scat filled with animal hair from game it ate. A grouse exploded from the bushes and flew across the trail in front of us.

We ran into Mitchell, age thirty, hiking with his wife and three-month-old baby on his chest. "We took Claire on her first hike when she was five months old," I said.

"Did she play tennis?" Mitchell asked. "Did she grow up around here?" "Yes, Claire Valdez," I replied.

"I remember Claire!" Mitchell exclaimed. "She was on varsity. I played JV (junior varsity) tennis. I watched the varsity players." Claire remembers Mitchell, too. They were in the same grade.

Claire is teaching her boyfriend to play tennis. "Are you playing as hard as you can?" I asked her.

"I'm not going to destroy him," Claire said dryly. "If I did, he won't play with me."

Photos:

1. Pearly Everlasting flowers. Love that name!

2. A Pika house ready for winter.

3. Elusive little Pikas are endangered due to climate change.

4. Elderberry tree. People make jam from the berries.

5. Claire played varsity tennis for four years in school. Each year, she had to beat every freshman, sophomore, junior and senior to win the only open spot on the Varsity team. Terry and I were amazed when she got on Varsity as a freshman.