Sunset from the Donner Lake Shore

Drove down to the lake after dinner and sat on the shore until the sun dropped behind the ridge. The water is low — a wide band of dirt between the trees and the edge, so it was a longer walk to get near the water than usual.

Smoke was drifting along the far shore, and later a whole column of it rose behind the hills to the west. Couldn't tell where it was coming from. It hung in the trees like fog and turned the whole sky orange and pink well past the point I'd planned to leave.

A truck pulled right down to the waterline across from me. Otherwise nobody around. Stayed until the color went out of the water, then walked back over the flats in the dark.