When the View Disappears, What’s Left?

The Highline Trail is supposed to be one of those bucket-list hikes. But the day I went, California wildfire smoke swallowed everything. No peaks, no valleys—just a gray, choking haze. I kept walking anyway, half out of stubbornness, half because I’d come so far. Every photo looked like a mistake. I wondered if I’d wasted the trip, if the whole idea of chasing views was just a distraction from whatever I was really trying to outrun. Sometimes you get to the place you dreamed about, and it’s nothing like the pictures. Sometimes, all you see is yourself, clearer than the landscape ever could be. #Travel #TravelExpectations # #MissedMoments