The Pikes Peak Greenway trail meanders up and down hills from the Edmondson Trailhead on Woodmen Road in Colorado Springs, north to the Air Force Academy. Beautiful homes are hidden along Monument Creek or in bluffs above the train tracks on the Pikes Peak Greenway trail. One home even had hoodoos in their backyard decoration. We are so close to ancient nature in the ‘Springs’.
We could not proceed very far into the government land during this shutdown. We checked out the toilet in the middle of nowhere, and a bridge that crosses fast flowing Monument Creek and connects this trail with the Santa Fe Trail.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,
kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. Psalms 148:7-13 NIV
We met a newcomer on the trail from northern Ohio. He and his wife moved here six months ago for her work. He bicycles, explores the trails, and she works. Then they play together on the weekend. She soon would have to work from home. He was so friendly and walked distantly with us on the way out of the Air Force Academy for forty minutes.
He asked concerned questions about rattlesnakes and hailstorms. They are legendary in Colorado Springs and the West. In 22 years here, I have heard a rattlesnake once and never encountered one on the trail. Of course, I know where to avoid and what to do. Hailstorms and wildfires – I have seen “fire and rain” living in this mountain ecosystem. Both are real, unpredictable, and out of your control.
Life feels both unpredictable and out of my control in the worldwide shutdown – like constant hailstorms with deadly rattlesnakes awaiting you outside.
Horses were on the trail and I watched a young girl trying to make her horse cross the train tracks to go home. Her tiny legs had no strength in them, and I was reminded of myself on horseback when I was nine years old. The horse would only follow the other braver horses.
May we be brave as we walk an unknown path of danger ahead? Staring into hail and rattlesnakes.
How have you been brave? When have you had fear? What did you do to get by in a scary time?