Between Seasons - Leidig Meadow

The transition period between seasons often has a pause. I used to think that autumn progressively shifted into winter, each day taking another step along the way. But sometimes there is a period when movement seems to stop, when it is neither autumn nor winter, but something on its own.

In autumn the leaves on trees turn from green to yellow and red and fall to the ground. But a few trees hold on to their lingering colors. The process seems to stop moving. It’s not Indian Summer, more of an Indian Autumn. Leidig Meadow holds an earthy brown color with tints of yellow. In the early morning the slow flowing Merced River has a skin of ice on pools along the edge that melts away in an hour. Sunlight gleams bright off granite domes and peaks as it leans south in the sky, and a medium jacket is enough to keep me warm. The blue sky is clear and deep, not yet soft with the scatter of snow crystals high in the atmosphere.

This pause can last a few days or a week. Then the transition starts again and the cold of night stretches further and further into the day with a fewer moments of warmth in the middle. The last leaves fall. The ground freezes and the warm earth colors of the plants in the meadows turn black, gray, and mauve. Snow sifts lower from the clouds and covers the valley in white, closing the last remaining trails until spring.