Mushroom in Pine Needles — Image by kenne
Under ponderosa shade
one pale cap
holding up
a whole sky of trees.
— kenne
Archive for the ‘Hiking’ Category
Mushroon In Pine Needles Leave a comment
Nearing The Birthday 1 comment
Carillo Trail — Image by kenne
Nearing the Birthday
Soon another year
will place its hand
on my shoulder.
Nothing is wasted.
Pain becomes a record
that I was here long enough
to be marked.
I will not ask
for fewer days of pain.
I will ask
for more moments of noticing—
the hummingbird darting
the chipmont on the ground,
The olive tree’s kindness of shade.
If this is my work now,
I accept it gladly:
to love the world
as it is,
from inside
this aging, faithful body.
Tell me,
what else
would I have been practicing for?
— kenne
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Go Alone, If You Can See Clearly 2 comments
Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
Go alone, if you would see clearly.
Crowds borrow courage from noise.
The solitary man,
standing before a vast horizon,
measures himself without deception.
There, humility is not taught—
it is required,
as gravity requires weight.
— kenne
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Life Will Test You 6 comments
Image by kenne
Life will test you—
with loss,
with longing,
with the long silence
of waiting.
But you are
not meant
to bow forever.
Stand,
even if trembling.
Walk,
even if slowly.
For every forward step
is an act of becoming.
— kenne
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I grow old . . . I grow old . . . Leave a comment
My old friend, Tom Markey, On The Beach at Vidanta Puerto Peñasco (04/11/13) — Image by kenne
(Tom and I continued to walk, hike, and travel together til his death on August 17, 2022)
I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind?   Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
— from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot
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Exploring the Rose Lake Trail: A Poetic Journey Leave a comment
Couple Hiking the Rose Lake Trail in the Santa Catalina Mountains — Painting by kenne
On the Rose Lake trail
two figures move together,
their shapes half-folded
into shadow.
The Santa Catalinas rise around them,
granite boulders draped in cloud,
pines whispering in wind.
I paint them in dark colors—
deep greens, muted browns,
the gray of stone after rain—
a palette of weight and hush,
where even their laughter
seems brushed in shadow.
Yet in the distance,
a faint light holds,
a suggestion of water,
a trail bending forward,
a quiet promise
beyond the shadows.
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Sandstone Waves Frozen Mid-Swell Leave a comment
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Northern Arizona– Image by kenne
South of the Utah line,
the land ripples in stone—
sandstone waves frozen mid-swell,
a sea stilled by time.
Ridges curl like ancient surf,
wind carving foam from desert rock,
sun pouring light into every crease.
Here, the earth remembers motion,
even in silence,
and the hiker walks
through a tide that never falls.
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Hiking Vermillion Cliffs National Monument 1 comment
Vermillion Cliffs National Monument — Image by kenne
Stone waves frozen mid-surge,
vermillion ridges unfolding
like the ribs of the earth.
Bootsteps press into silence,
sandstone breathing heat
from centuries of sun.
Every turn opens another cathedral—
walls painted in rust and gold,
arches carved by wind and time.
Hiking here is a passage
through color and quiet,
where the desert
writes its scripture in stone
on a canvas of earth and time
spread wide beneath the sky.
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Desert Hibiscus 2 comments
Desert Hibiscus On Cooks Camp Trail — Image by kenne
Desert hibiscus—
sun-kissed on Cooks Camp Trail’s bend,
silence holds its bloom.
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What Path Will You Take? Leave a comment
Looking Back At Tucson From The 7 Falls Trail — Image by kenne
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The Desert Believes. Leave a comment
Toothleaf Goldeneye — Image by kenne
No rain for months, yet
yellow wildflowers still bloom—
the desert believes.
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Hiking Through Saguaros Leave a comment
Hiking Through Saguaros — Image by kenne
Trail bends past old roots,
saguaro shadows stretch long—
time forgets no one.
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Sonoran Desert Hiking Trail 1 comment
Sonoran Desert Hiking Trail — Image by kenne
I’ve been down this trail
With or without wildflowers
Certain trails stand out.
— kenne
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Hikers Taking In The View 2 comments
Hikers Taking In The View (08/29/11) —Â Image by kenne
I love Nature partly because she is not man, but a retreat from him.
None of his institutions control or pervade her. There a different kind of right prevails.
In her midst I can be glad with an entire gladness. If this world were all man,
I could not stretch myself, I should lose all hope. He is constraint, she is freedom to me.
He makes me wish for another world. She makes me content with this.
— Henry David Thoreau
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End Of The Trail On Blackett’s Ridge Leave a comment
End Of The Trail On Blackett’s Ridge (11/04/11) — Image by kenne
Hiking Blackett’s Ridge
Steep inclines with little shade
Six miles up and back.
— kenne
