I turned in my keys, got my goodbye hugs from my co-workers and walked out onto the meadow to watch the sunset. 

It was easier to walk away from over thirty years with IBM when I retired, than to finish this one season as a volunteer in Shenandoah National Park.  Yet the departure began a month ago as the park began reducing services and releasing seasonal rangers not needed in the winter months.

These folks are all friends.  As each of them departed, many hugs were shared all around.  A few others will continue to work through November.  I know they will hug each other as they turn out the lights for the last time this year.

The sunset was particularly beautiful tonight with a pink glow on all horizons for a while.  Sunsets, beautiful or hidden by an overcast sky, simply signal a nighttime followed by a sunrise.

Tomorrow, I head home to Ann, the love of my life, and will soon be sharing in projects that waited this summer.  I spent about half of the last five months away from home to serve at the information desk at Byrd Visitor Center.  Worse for home projects, I spent nearly all of the busy October fall colors season in the park to work weekends.  That turned out to be only two or three days a week at home.

I expect to be as excited about the home projects that wait for me, as I seem to have been helping visitors enjoy the park.  Yesterday, as I was describing a hike to a couple, the woman interrupted to say, “You really like your work, don’t you?”  It was a splendid complement, and she then asked me to continue my trail description.  It meant that I did not just point folks to a trail.  I sold the hikes to folks as something they should not miss.

This morning was my last shift on the desk.  Then I had a few chores to handle, followed by lunch and a change out of uniform into civies.  I took one last hike down Rose River Fire Road to Dark Hollow Falls Trail, then up that steep climb of a trail to the base of the falls.

I watched the falls for a while and returned to my car.  I never huffed or puffed, nor did I need to stop and rest.  That is an indication that my physical condition has improved over what it had been just a year ago. The mountains have been good to me in many ways.

On my way back to the Byrd Visitor Center to turn in my keys, I stopped at Fishers Gap Overlook.  The sun was lighting up green fields in the valley and bright autumn colors in trees well down the mountain.  Even though the tops of the mountains have finished this fall’s show, the lower elevations are grand, just as it was grand on the peaks just a short week ago.

The heavy visitation is over and Byrd Visitor Center will only be open five days a week in November, then it closes until April.

I am not needed at the information desk anymore.

What will I do until next year? … What will I do next year?

                        --  Bob Kuhns