Cachette

My plans for today were cancelled due to trails being closed. The heavy rains have caused slides and the park service is protecting the trails from erosion. I am glad to see that level of intelligent management but bummed out that I won't be hiking what are purported to be beautiful routes.

But every cloud has linings. Last night's rains made for a lovely sunset (just barely) and today's closure made me refocus and now I'm enjoying perfect weather (warm, humid, breezy) with big fluffy clouds as I sip a coffee and look at the 7-Colored Earth Geopark.

Colorful dirt. But in a good way. The iron-oxides and aluminum-oxides repel each other and form pretty bands of color. The surrounding forest looks healthy and lush. Birds flit through. There's a spectacular waterfall overlook. They have some Aldabra Tortoises (big, pretty, kinda sad in the tiny fenced space). The hike is not much of a challenge but the experience is probing pleasant and I see storm clouds massing... So maybe being around pavement instead of a couple hours away on a muddy trail is a great thing?

It must be. This is my life, and my life is pretty great.

You can read more about the tortoises here: https://www.chamarel7colouredearth.com/tortoise…Læs mere