Scenes from a dark foggy night

I walk the dogs late at night. I guess it's mileage for me--the "time on feet" thing. It also helps burn some of their pent-up energy, and heaven knows Zeke needs to burn off a few calories. We sometimes do the trailz, but usually do one of three paved routes at Turkey Mountain.  My favorite course is the paved road off of 71st Street. It's a steep hill--good for repeats. I also like the old gravel lot that can be accessed from this road, and also from the paved trail that parallels the river. On a night with no moon, it's eerie. Riverparks, or someone has chained the old gate that between the road and the old graveled lot. Roxie can zip right through the gap. It's a squeeze for Zeke and I. 

I usually think about zombies while over here. On a dark night, the quiet ones could be right on you before you realized it. The dogs seem startled when we pass people on the trailz at night--and that may be a good thing. Most of the park visitors late at night are not runners or hikers. Some speak, some don't. In fact, I don't know what they are. 

On a particularly foggy night last week, we were going downward on the unlit paved road. I rarely bring a light. No moon, and only a faint glow of the lights from the city dimly lit the sky. We usually go to the railroad track and turn around and it was at the bottom of the hill where the road turns to the east that the dogs froze. If it were a rabbit or armadillo, they would have been lunging ahead wanting to chase it, but they were standing still and stiff at attention. Then I noticed a movement ahead--or maybe I imagined it. No--it was a movement. As it neared, it was a person, but through the thick grayness of the fog, I could not tell anything about him/her other than it was around my height, and was walking silently towards us and then past us. Light colored clothes? I couldn't say if it were jeans and a t-shirt, a long jacket, bathrobe? It was too dark, too gray, too blurry. I squinted but could not see any more than the picture below.

Just beyond the railroad tracks is another locked gate--so it must have came up on the railroad tracks. I spoke--something like "how's it going", and got no answer. It was weird. My dogs thought it was weird. We turned around at the tracks, and went back up the hill instead of squeezing through the gate. Never saw the person--or whatever it was. Not saying we saw a ghost, but I'm not sure what we saw.