Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado Setting out to hike up a 900-foot sand dune a few hours before sunset with a blizzard blowing might seem, to some, like a bad idea. With 50-mph winds blowing a combination of sand and snow into our barely-covered faces, it was certainly not a comfortable idea. And as the cloud cover advancing steadily to the west, it was starting to seem like a futile idea, too. But on our way down--in the ignorant bliss before realizing we we're sure where we parked--the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the drifting snow in a way that in an instant transported us out of our bodies and into--there's no other way to describe it--the sublime. And then the clouds advanced and just as instantly we were back on the dunes, sand pummeling our faces, car lost, legs tired. But, as always, we knew it was worth it.
Mad Creek, Steamboat, Colorado Many glacier-fed streams experience a change in flow not only through the season, but through the day as well. Why? During the day, high temperatures and solar radiation melt team up to melt the mountaintop ice, only relenting when that side of the earth leaves the sun in favor of cold, dark night. But when the sun rises again, more of that beautiful clear water swells downhill towards the rivers and oceans beyond. So if you ever need to cross a glacial river, it might be easier at night. Actually, nevermind. That sounds freaking cold.
Yampa River, Colorado // Serenity comes in many forms, but few things are quite as peaceful as watching the shadow of one mountain creep up the slopes of another. A pokey, buggy, breathless bushwhack hike is a small price to pay for that kind of waking meditation. It's a special sense of unity with your surroundings, a recognition of being part of something larger than yourself, a combination of smallness and oneness. This image in particular captures that feeling for me in the parallel lines of the road and the river, the artificial and the natural meandering together across the valley floor. Artifice imitates life? Or perhaps there's hardly such a thing as artifice in the first place.
