Along the D&R

ABC and I went for a recovery ride this afternoon along the D&R towpath. Having left so late in the day, I was sure of two things: I was going to witness the sunset and it would be dark by the time I got back. The autumn sky is capable of some pretty amazing things. The air smelled of winter and a growing season's worth of detritus had covered the trail almost completely. The only sounds were of an incessant crinkling of leaves beneath my tires interspersed with the high-frequency buzzing of one getting captured in my brakes.

Aside from the awesome sky, a highlight of the ride was on a portion of the trail where the canal and river are right beside each other, with only the towpath to separate them. It was nearly too dark to see, but I noticed a four-legged creature on the trail. I initially thought it was a dog, but did not see it's owner anywhere and as I got closer I realized it was much too large to be a dog. It was a huge buck and when he noticed me, he began to run. Only he had nowhere to go since the river bank was on one side and the canal's on the other, so he ran straight down the towpath with huge leaps and bounds. I immediately gave chase, following that flashing white tail with everything I had. As soon as he had some room to get off the trail, he slipped into the trees and vanished.