Mica Basin, Colorado // I found this stream-straddled island exploring the fantastically, almost surreally beautiful Mica Basin in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. The experience of that evening, even though the sunset never exploded like photographers often hope, was like medicine in a stressful perioud of my life. Like Sufjan Stevens sings on the record "Carrie & Lowell," the experience of nature's wonder and abundance is often "the only reason why I continue at all..."