Throughout my whole life the mountains near my family's cabin have been a magical unknown world of wonder, and place for my imagination to run wild. The cabin itself is about an hours drive from the base of the amazing Sangre de Cristo peaks, which makes for spectacular views from the cabin's back door. The woods surrounding the family home provided ample room to run, dream and explore. My imagination would still wander and dream about what it would be like to be in those mountains. In recent years, the imagining turned into plotting and planning of grand hiking expeditions and climbing in the mountains I hold so dear.
Finally, many years in the making my dreams came true, and happily the real life version was more than my imagination had ever hoped for.
Towering feats of geologic effort loomed high above my head while wildflowers bloomed along my path...
... mountain runoff from three peeks flowed down picturesque waterfalls...
... into two high mountain lakes that reflected the moving clouds above. The world magically shrunk into the swirling energy of the peaks that surround this beautiful valley, and the blissful assortment of botanic life that flourished on the valley floor.
I could feel my heart beat heavily as the summit came into view, each step like moving through a wading pool of molasses, but then there I was, at the top, looking out above mountains that have always held such wonder. Peak after peak leapt up into the sky. The sun beat down upon miniature versions of the wildflowers from the valley below, and I couldn't help but marvel at that the magical place I spent so many years dreaming about. This far off unattainable world, felt just like home.
With abounding gratitude...
~Jordan
*Last time in Nature: After the Rain
