remembering mt. princeton: caught between a rock and a cactus
accepting the reality of your own death is a challenging thing to wrap your brain around.
as the storm clouds rolled up the rocky face of the mountain
building a wall between us and the safety of, well, anything, but namely our vehicle
we were exposed
just moments prior we proudly stood at 14,197 feet above sea level
one of the highest points in the continental United States
we had climbed steadily as the snow from the night before melted
and the sun charged the turning aspens to a warmer shade of yellow
we climbed past the imaginary line known as tree line
and beyond to cross a never ending field of scree
picking our way cautiously through the loose rock
we eventually made it to summit where the celebratory conversations were cut short by the swiftly changing weather
as i struggled to descend with something short of grace
the hairs on my forehead prickled and danced on end in a loving relationship with the electricity in the sky
i did not want to die
as the storm clouds rolled up the rocky face of the mountain
building a wall between us and the safety of, well, anything, but namely our vehicle
we were exposed
just moments prior we proudly stood at 14,197 feet above sea level
one of the highest points in the continental United States
we had climbed steadily as the snow from the night before melted
and the sun charged the turning aspens to a warmer shade of yellow
we climbed past the imaginary line known as tree line
and beyond to cross a never ending field of scree
picking our way cautiously through the loose rock
we eventually made it to summit where the celebratory conversations were cut short by the swiftly changing weather
as i struggled to descend with something short of grace
the hairs on my forehead prickled and danced on end in a loving relationship with the electricity in the sky
i did not want to die