Sunshine isn’t exactly over-rated, but. . .

We’re often disappointed when fog enshrouds our time in the woods. It can turn a feeling of splendid solitude into woebegone isolation.  Sounds are muffled.  Colors are muted and your field of vision is limited. 

But that’s when the alchemy of the fog begins working. 

Without the usual vivid colors and distant vistas, the experience comes down to just us and the landscape.  Even in familiar terrain, every turn in the trail can seem new and mysterious, and we become better attuned to its past–its ghosts are revealed to us. For those with highly active imaginations, I suppose this could quickly morph into something like the Blair Witch Project.  But for the rest of us, at the end of the walk, it can be as if we’ve made a new friend. 

This image is from the south shoreline of Lake Minnewaska during a walk this past fall.  It’s still haunting me.