Golden Coyote — Metal

Backpacking through Coyote Gulch in crisp fall air, you round a bend and the canyon opens into this — cottonwoods lit from behind, their canopy a cascade of gold and green pouring down the walls of red rock. The creek below catches every color and doubles it, turning the water into liquid amber. A towering cliff leans in overhead, warm and close, and the light threads through the branches in long shafts that make the whole corridor glow. It's the kind of scene that stops you mid-step, pack still on your back, boots in the water, just standing there letting the gulch do what it does best — make you forget you were headed anywhere at all.