2 July ~2014

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Me and the dogs slept in the pine woods up on the side of Mt. Elbert on the last new moon. At 3am I walked to a close by lake, hoping some stars would show through the clouds that I could photograph. I have only seen it as dark as it was once before, also on a cloudy moonless night. It was the kind of dark where you can hold your hand in front of your face and see nothing of it. I took a second headlamp as a precaution.

The dogs and I had quite a time on our backpack trip, then later hiking near Independence Pass. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have such a life - especially after my solitude is balanced by the sweet angels at the Saturday Honky Tonk. (I always plan my trips to be home by Saturday evening - which I figure is a good test of how well you are living - to be up in the Rockies all day, and then dance all night!)

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. If you have not seen a native trout rise in a crystalline pool beneath a shattering riffle, or a golden eagle spread its wings and cover you in shadow. If you have not seen the tree line recede to the top of a bare crested mountain. If you have not looked into a pair of wild eyes and seen your own reflection. Please, for the good of your soul, travel west.” 

Daniel J Rice - This Side of a Wilderness

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