The Trail Up, Around, and Back Again

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        I make my way up the hill. The robins are dancing around each other occasionally fluttering over one another in their quest for food in the right side ditch. As I get closer to them they skitter away. I took one step too close. I snapped a few pictures before they flew away.
        With the robins gone, I continue up the hill to my private trail to nowhere. As I veer off the road onto the trail, the sound of robins dissipates. All I hear are a couple ravens off in the distance. I follow a slight damp trail that had dried up over the past couple days of sunshine. The roots act as flimsy stairs as I make my way up the hillside. The only fungi I see around me are some lemon cups on a broken branch off to my left and some bear bread on a dead tree about twenty feet in front of me. The ravens have gone silent. I scan around to see any hidden wildlife. I make it up the hill as far as I want to go and start moving to the left. There is an easy path that takes me to moss trail that goes on for about thirty feet. I stand at the beginning of  the moss trail. A nursery log blocks my path further left. A tiny mushroom is peeking its cap out of its moss bed. I don't know what type of fungus this. I snap a couple photos to cross reference with my mushroom books. I close my eyes and breath in the cool air taking in  the aroma of the moss and dirt. I can hear a small creek down from my position. I pass on going further left and start making my way down the hill.

Mycena sp. ?

        I hear a deep breath and freeze. My heart is racing. All I have with me is a magenta camera, a lighter, and an electronic cigarette. What am I going to do vapor the bear to death with black cherry nicotine. I fearfully and cautiously look around for the bear. Nothing. My heart starts to slow down. I need to start carrying bear mace with me. I take another step and hear the deep breath again. I look down at my feet and raise my right foot and set it down. The moss is what is scaring the living shit out of me. I keep walking knowing the moss was only sighing under the weight of my body.
        The path down the hill is more treacherous than the way up. There are spots that I have to jump down and they are slick with wet mud. I quickly hop over four roots avoiding the mud as much as possible. I am surprised my clumsiness has caught up with me today. The creek in now within my sight thought I'm at an impasse. It is a good fifteen feet drop to the creek. I look left and right to find a path down this cliff. the right goes further up but the left goes down. I have to decline down a rotten log and avoid the bramble of dead salmon berry bushes. My left foot slips of the rotten log nearly making me fall into the thorns of the dead salmon berries. I regain my balance and make my way down. I admire the trickle of the small creek. There is a log that goes across up ahead and it leads to houses on the hillside.
        I must be next to Fairy Chasm road. I cross the creek without incident till I make my way up the other side. Not realizing the depth of the mud, I stepped in. As I pulled my left foot up I nearly lost my shoe. I escaped the mud trap and made my way to the street. It is Fairy Chasm. I made my way down the sunny street passing my mother's house and the only thing I could think was I need bear mace.