Tortuous trails wind around the Santa Cruz Mountains, seen at sunset in Russian Ridge Open Space, California.

This is a typically beautiful summer sunset in Russian Ridge Open Space, California. The sunsets from this location are fairly predictable by season. In summer months, the Pacific Ocean in the distance is almost always covered in fog. It’s also really dense. In winter and spring, the fog sometimes comes up and over the mountaintops. But in summer, the fog often stays below the crests . And in summer, the sky above the fog is also predictably boring. You almost never get dramatic skies in summer, since all the storms come in winter. So instead, your eyes are drawn to the hillsides of the Santa Cruz Mountains themselves. I often don’t notice how cool the form of these hills are. But in summer, when the hills in the distance become the subject, it hits you: they’re really cool.

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