In fall I try to run paths that will soon fill with snow as often as possible. This time I stopped to take a panoramic photo of the field that is perched halfway up the valley. It’s on this flat shelf that my parents live, a wide and gentle part of the rounded river valley slope. Prairie valleys have the most amazing rounded edges even in the steep and dramatic coulies. Up behind their house you can complete the journey back up to the level of the prairie and see it sloping down and away to the north. It’s a great run, and nothing short of amazing during an autumnal sunset.
The panorama squashes things a bit, but trust me, the path up that goes up the right side of the photo, along the row of poplar trees to start, is not as gentle as the word ‘prairie’ might lead you to believe.
