November 9, 2013
I’ll come back in spring to see if the river becomes wild.
Wild and scenic is what the sign said. This autumn, the Merced River is better described as calm, even lazy.
Chris and I drove along the gravel road above the river until we came to a spot where we could easily access the water. We carefully walked down the steep slope and spent a breezy Saturday afternoon along the banks of the wild and scenic river.
The Merced River.
Autumn colors surrounded us.
Golden brown leaves hung loosely from branches and littered the ground.
Red plants grew in the water near the sandy shore.
Underwater, green moss covered everything.
Orange lichen spread over many of the granite boulders.
Wispy white clouds changed shape quickly in the blue sky.
We shared cheese and crackers, a bottle of wine, along with a few other spicy morsels at the river’s edge.
A bottle of red.
At the end of the afternoon, we hiked uphill and back to the car leaving the wild and scenic Merced River behind, filled with memories of an intimate afternoon.
At least the sign was half right…the river was very scenic. Sounds like you had a nice time. Missed seeing you and Chris in the photos, though.
Dad
PS: Nice advertisement for the Butterfly Creek Winery. 🙂
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I look forwards to more days like that when I retire.
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Beautiful colors!
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🙂 Fall colors in this area are limited to mostly gold, brown, yellow and orange. It’s rare to find the pretty red leaves that are prominant in other parts of the US.
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