The Burke Gilman at Night

At 9:00 p.m. Friday night, a time when most college students are partying hard at the nearest frat house, my friends and I were wandering around the neighborhoods around Sand Point. As we walked along, we decided to take a break from the lights and clamor of the urban neighborhood and take a walk along the Burke-Gilman. So we slowly slipped into the darkness. The spiny trees enveloped us as we walked without moving towards the light on the horizon. It was so dark we could hardly see where we were going. We stayed on the trail by touch alone, our feet telling us when we had clearly stepped off the walkway. The trees protected us from any light or sound from the surrounding city.

Yet this protection was almost terrifying. We were grateful that we were not walking alone. At one point, an approaching light from a biker brought up images of invisible murderers hiding behind lights so that we couldn't see them. Of course, the biker would quickly pass and send us once agian into darkess.

After passing under a bridge, we finally reached the stairway back to the light. As we walked upwards, it got brighter and brighter until we were finally engulfed in that sea of unpleasant orangish yellow and it was back to business as usual.

For those of you who don't know what the Burke Gilman trail is, visit this webpage:
http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/BurkeGilman/bgtrail.htm