Late in the wooding season, the slanting sunlight conspires with dusty roads to paint strips in mid-air. At 7000’, these woods are already freezing overnight, so I pack a change of dry clothes, wool hat and mittens. Time to clean the chainsaw and get out the splitting maul.

A pine forest is backlit by a low, weak, winter sun. The dust from a nearby road scatters the sunlight where it gets through the trees, but not where the shadows of branches fall, making a striped effect in the air.