I continue walking, following the grassy trail as it winds through a field of yucca plants with stiff, pointed leaves resembling pineapple tops. Wild purple flowers with yellow centers grow intermittently around the plants as if to bring a little color to the dryness of the landscape. I pause as a butterfly with large yellow and blue wings flutters from flower to flower, collecting pollen that the colorful flowers so graciously provide.
As I walk further into the field, I find myself under a canopy of trees. The large trunks twist and turn, their thick roots planted firmly into the ground as if playing a never-ending game of Twister. Branches resembling fingers aged by years of arthritis hold leaves that are just beginning to change to autumn colors, a paint pallet of green, red, yellow and brown hues. I watch as a fiery red leaf releases its hold from an almost bare branch and floats down to land in a small, flowing brook that carries the leaf away to its new home.
I walk along the edge of the babbling brook as it winds its way downstream through the forest, the shallow water weaving around small rocks and splashing over the occasional twig. Suddenly the trees separate, as if a curtain has been opened, and what I see directly in front of me takes my breath away. The flowing brook has unexpectedly led me to a waterfall in the most amazing way. The water carried from the