There is magic in them hills after all

I  finally went up today, and now i ask what took me so long? Up to those bleached out hills or mountains that surround this town, those that seemed to have no appeal, to hold me in instead of beckon me forth. But today i went, and am eager to go back again. For they are so much more that what appears at first glance.
At first when i entered that natural landscape of high desert that is this land, so different from the riparian zone of the river and the created treed landscape of town, i felt so off kilter and wanted to turn back. Was it because it is a landscape that is unknown, a type of place i am less familiar with? One that i admit i am biased against? Was it the magpies and ravens crying above, in the trees by the dried up creek, such a different vibration than the quacks of ducks or geese, or the cries of the seagull? Was it the crackling land, the low brush, the yellows and browns under the bright blue sky? Was it the coyote who i saw when i was still in the arboretum, before walking to the beyond, one that was wiley enough to evade the camera?
I became still, and the land revealed its life to me – for some moments i felt like i could be in a carlos castenada book, the low plants, the scrub as i say, danced with life, revealing its spirits to me. my step picked up, and i began to smile, heading up the canyon, eager for more, still unsure, relieved when a jogger or mountain biker passed by. and then i spotted it, a rock formation up above, one that i found a path too, and it was truly magical (post to come). And i realized that this land can have a magic of its own, one that i merely needed to open myself up to. the weather is changing, heard today was to be the last nice one, but i know i will make my way up there again. (still grateful for the arboretum on my way back down)
And as i was up there, i asked why not before? Perhaps i was being called. a few days ago when i walked my beloved river, and the setting sun played upon the hills, revealing a shapeliness i have not seen before. I knew they were there, but i was not time, connecting to the river, trees, and its rocks, giving it my love. but now, my horizons have expanded, like the larger horizon visible from there.

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