The wooden trip-trap bridge on the Kiwa Loop
Trail; photo by Larry D. Rea
Kiwa is a loop trail so one has to make the choice of direction…
I choose… to the left… clockwise around the loop.
Kiwa… sounds like something that Tonto might say
to the Lone Ranger…as in “Ki-wa, Ke-mo Sa-be”
A chorus of strident soprano voices assails my ear…
Black-headed Grosbeaks serenading each other…
There must be a melody but I… just… can’t … make … it …out
wooden bridge passes over the marsh below…
I resist the temptation to trip trap my way across… singing
“I’m the big Billy Goat Gruff.”
Off in the distance comes the lilt of merry laughter…
down the Melodic Scale… (perhaps the key of “G”)
a secretive bird, the Sora, makes noises like this…
a whinny, some say, but not loud like a horse…
common, yet a bird you are not likely to see.
Dragonflies dash madly about… back and forth
like some kind of darning machine… colorful
in turquoise blue and jet black, with shimmering wings
glistening like precious diamond gems in the sunlight.
Wait, there is one an impossible fiery red…
perhaps a meadow hawk… all seeking mosquitoes to eat.
A shadow slides by on the trail at my feet… I have been eclipsed
by a vulture flying between me and the sun…
maybe I’m walking too slow…
growing warmer now…
wishing I had worn a hat to protect my head.
Wishing I had a bottle of cold water to slake my thirst.
“A bittern, beak pointed to the sky pretending to be a swamp reed and a dry clump of grass”: photo by Larry D. Rea
“Bloonk-adoonk” greets my ears… a low guttural sound…
a bittern… finally… I see it… beak pointed to the sky…
pretending to be a swamp reed and a dry clump of grass.
And then it makes the sound again… “Bloonk-adoonk”
A bull frog decides to join in, “Heh… Heh… Heh”
croaked and reedy, somewhat like a harmonica
wheezing on a low note… others join the chorus until
they tire of the racket… and then again, “Bloonk-adoonk”
A patch of willow, blooming along the trail…
a pair of eyes, watching from the dark shadows…
a black mask… fuzzy little round ears… a raccoon pup
watching me carefully… we stare at each other
without blinking and then it slowly disappeared.
…Kiwa, Kemo Sabe…
-Larry D Rea©2014 For more information about the Kiwa Trail, visit http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Kiwa_Trail_Loop_Hike
For more information about Larry D. Rea, visit http://www.taxaflora.com
