Luke, dig your heels in and pull back toward summer with me!

My annual protest that fall is coming way too fast is below. Brace yourselves. I feel like digging my heels in, pulling back, and shouting, "Noooooooooooo!!!!" (My brother-in-law is always a few weeks ahead of me on this reaction. Thanks for taking the reigns Luke!)

September 15th, Santa Fe Ski Valley. Orange and Gold... the first feelings of panic set in. (These feelings are based in the very real dismay that I haven't hiked nearly enough since the snow last melted.)

See last year's protest in a similar vein HERE. And another from 2008 is HERE. Looks like both of those years (2012 and 2008) I was living in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Fall hits especially hard there. Luke knows.

Now it is the beginning of October and I can't deny that fall is here with winter soon on its heels. The colors are changing up high.

Santa Fe Ski Valley, June 23rd and September 29th, 2013.

There is that moment in September every year when I step outside early in the morning while the dog pees and look up to see snow on the mountains. The inevitable freight train of winter. That moment when your jaw drops to see the snow you didn't expect yet again is also the moment when you know that you don't have to shave your legs again for at least 6 months. At least winter has that much going for it. I don't know how it catches me every year. September in New Mexico feels so warm and happy. The snow always blindsides me.

On the up side, the aspens are changing and they are beautiful. There is always the hope that I'll convince Emily this year to go snowshoeing and that the winter adventures can be just as fun as the summer ones.

I try to remember that I can head west when the snow flies. Peternal needs to be hiked again ("O'Keeffe's mountain" seen below from the side). Chaco Canyon waits for winter. I will be okay.