Subway Steps — Metal

At the entrance to the Subway the creek breaks into terraced steps, each ledge of red sandstone worn smooth and sheeted in a thin veil of water that catches every color around it. Fall had arrived in full — maples burning crimson, cottonwoods glowing yellow, evergreens holding their deep green — and the whole forest pressed in from both sides like an audience gathered around a stage. The water descends in soft cascades, stair by stair, climbing toward the slot canyon above where the walls narrow and the light changes. It's a scene that resists a single color — every direction offers another, layered and saturated, a kaleidoscope carved from stone and season.