A soft wind whispers through a grove of cottonwood trees in the Narrows.

Direction is meaningless in the Narrows since the sights are just as incredible traveling further upriver as they are on the return trip.  This area is fairly close to the beginning of the hike, and luckily is also one of the first corridors hit by reflected light.  I took this trip during a year in which most of the Fall colors were dull.  Likely due to a dry Winter, Spring, and Summer, the trees mysteriously turned from green into a dull brown then dead rather than the vibrant yellows and reds I yearn for.  However groves in the Narrows always seem to have a mind of their own.  I decided to frame this collection of cottonwoods that were just beginning their Fall transition with most of their leaves intact alongside a rock that has always reminded me of ones seen in Japanese Zen Gardens.  I saw character in the way it stood tall as if in a growth competition with the cottonwoods, surrounded by a slow moving stream that caught the wall’s reflection.  Only in the Narrows can this perfect harmony exist.