The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge for the week of February 26, 2016:

“This week, let your inner world and the outside one converge in a photo.”

I was seriously doubting I would be able to complete this week’s challenge; this may be a lesson to me to pay much more attention to what’s going on inside myself while I’m looking through the camera lens!

But then I remembered a solo hike I took a few weeks ago, near the end of January. I walked from my house and across the bridge to Old Folsom (about 3 miles one way).  It was a cool, cloudy day; it had been raining the previous day, and as I crossed the bridge the rain began pouring down again.  I was wearing my new rain jacket which reached only just below my hips, so my trousers and boots were soon soaked.

The rain abated by the time I reached Sutter Street — where I was pleased to discover a farmer’s market I never knew about, and managed to dry out a little.

And as I started on my way back across the bridge in the direction of home, it was obvious I wasn’t the only one braving the elements to get some exercise.

Still, as the cold rain returned and continued beating down, I found myself trudging along a deserted bike trail.  I was cold and wet, and even though I’d walked this path countless times before, the warmth and comfort of home suddenly seemed a million miles away.  My left foot starting hurting, but I stubbornly limped on.  I was determined to prove I could make it on my own, painful though it might be.  I tried to focus on the beauty of my surroundings and enjoy the drippy solitude… but all I felt was exhausted and alone.

Now the clouds grew darker and raindrops were coming bigger and faster, and I still had more than a mile to walk! I was wondering which tree might offer a bit of shelter — and that was when my phone rang, and the Big Guy was on the other end saying, “Stay right where you are; I’m coming in the car to pick you up.”