Fog. It covers Mts. Juneau and Roberts. The temperature difference between Gold Creek and the air above it produces more fog that rises in ragged strips like souls floating to Nirvana. The fog allows me to focus on the cottonwoods that are already dropping their yellowing leaves. Leaves of maples and thimbleberries join the cottonwood rubble on the flume trail. Aki doesn’t recognize the significance of the leaves that she sniffs for dog sign. But I know they always start to drop before the fall monsoons.