South Crest Trail: The end of the beginning

The last time I was here was the last time.

The last weekend before the first Covid-19 cases were diagnosed in New Mexico.

People swarmed the mountain. I passed them, they passed me. I sat on a log, ate my sandwich. No hand sanitizer, or thought of it.

Thirteen months later. The only thing here that shows the difference: a discarded surgical mask on the trail.

I stopped hiking. I hiked again. I quit my longtime job.

Almost no humans on the trail early this weekday morning. Juniper titmice all over the mountain engage in conversation that never ends.

Near the trailhead, I step off the trail to let an unmasked man pass.

“I’m fully vaccinated!” he exclaims.

That means *my* droplets can’t kill *you*, not…

Did you see no news or health bulletins for the past year?

I stay silent. Jays squawk for me.

Millions of feet will never walk their favorite paths again.

Soon, I’ll be fully vaccinated, and still fully masked in public.

Soon, I’ll have the privilege to begin to resume the daily activities that I choose.

I can’t undo any choices I made before the pandemic, or during this past year. Some of them haunt me.

New paths beckon now: me, and all the rest of us who reached this point.

We’ll need strong hearts and strong lungs where we’re going.

Hike length: 4.5 miles

Difficulty: moderate (a 1-mile stretch of switchbacks is difficult)

Trail traffic: very light

Creatures seen/heard: nuthatches, squirrel, Abert’s squirrel, chipmunk, crows, jays, juniper titmice, Say’s phoebes, butterflies, ladder-backed woodpecker, white-winged dove