The Bridge and the Ghost Trees

I am often out and about in the morning, taking my pictures, watching the day unfold. On this particular day, it was Spring Creek. I had set out with a thought that I should look for ice, but I didn't see much of that. Still, it was fun to stroll around and enjoy the bit of snow that had arrived over this past weekend.

I walked along the creek bank, remembering fondly the fisher that I had spotted on the opposite bank, on a 5-degree morning a few winters back. The creature was dark, and beautiful; here and then gone in just a few seconds. No, I did not get a photo; it was way too fast for me!

As I was standing by the bridge, looking down along the banks, I noticed cat tracks. BIG ones, and pretty far apart. If you look at cat tracks, the prints are usually just a few inches apart. In some spots, these were more than a foot apart. It thrilled me to think they might have been made by a bobcat; how fun to think of something so wild walking where I have walked. Oh, that our paths should someday meet!

I stood along the spillway looking back up to the rusty bridge that I have photographed so often. Behind the bridge, the trees hung over the water, covered in white, looking like ghost trees. The thought made me wistful. Some combination of things imagined, things lost, and things hoped for. Yes, the ghost trees in winter - they were just like that.

A soundtrack song about ghosts, for this image of the bridge and the ghost trees: Stevie Nicks, with Ghosts, from the album The Other Side of the Mirror.