Wednesday's Wonders

Annette : Gloria

The last greens of summer?

Monkey Fist

I went hiking with Stacy this weekend. It's the first time we've adventured together since February and the first time we've hiked (rather than snow shoed) since October. Amazingly, out of shape as I've become, I hiked just under 11 miles and 2,000 vertical feet... and Stacy is newly impressed with my stamina and general hiking buddy abilities.

Oh, had I missed being in the mountains! It was such a glorious day with such stunning views! I love the Indian Peaks Wildnerness so very deeply! And Navajo Peak has long been one of my favorites!

We didn't end up summiting, unfortunately. The rain came in swiftly, bringing thunder with it. We were on scree when it arrived and, being responsible hikers... we turned around. By the time we were back off the boulder field, though, the rain stopped and we had run out of time to head back up toward the same goal.

Instead, we got back on the Isabelle Glacier trail. It was amazing! The trail itself was incredibly challenging, particularly considering the state of my physical body. Steep, steep, steep! Not scree and scrambling, but still... switch backs like no one's business. (Most of those 2,000 vertical feet were in the last 1.5 miles of the hike!) Up, up, up! What I LOVE about trails like this is that you can't really see your goal. You have no real idea what is waiting at the top.

Well, here is was awaited us:

It wasn't just a glacier... it was a circ full of amazlingly aquamarine-blue water and rosy snow! I can't describe it and the photos do it no justice whatsoever! It was overwhelmingly beautiful and awesome! Just to give you some perspective... see that dark spot in the very center of the photo? Were I standing on it, my head would barely reach the shadow just above it. Make sense? It's HUGE.

You know... I just got really sneezy and I need to get home to get my WishGarden Allergy Rescue before all of the patrons of Stella's shoe me out!

Sorry.

I'll be back soon... -ish.

Wednesday's Wonders

Annette : Gloria

Autumn Cometh

Rest

Wednesday's Wonders

Annette : Gloria

Trippin'

We pitched our tent and then realized we could move it closer to the river. Four girls each grab a corner and tote the shelter to a flat spot nearer to the sweet sounds of water tumbling over rocks.

Non-profit accommodations are the best accommodations.

Blue Sunday

I worked a long day yesterday... until 10pm. In the middle of my day I received word that a beautiful little girl, one that always epitomized the awesomeness of children for me, passed away early this past spring from a sudden infection. 48 hours between diagnosis and death. I can think of nothing more tragic... nor more insistent in its reminder to us all that life is SO precious and we truly should not waste a moment.

Something shifted for me in that moment... immediately upon reading the email... a new urgency in what I'm doing on this planet. Within 30 minutes... I had signed up two new members for Greenpeace.

I'm not trying to say that Emmy's passing and global warming are directly related. No. What I'm saying is that the connections between us all... the web of life... the flow of life through every single thing...

Life is fragile. The earth is fragile. We are fragile.

We need to take care of and appreciate each other AND the world. Nothing could be more fundamental.

After a truly rough day in Boulder on Friday, I felt pretty deflated and cynical. People can be so... trying. But when an amazing little girl like Emmy suddenly disappears... it gives you a new set of eyes. Emmy is in all of us... whether we feel we've lost that or not.

The woman who flipped me off yesterday after I asked her to help me save polar bears... Maybe she just lost her Emmy, too. How could I possibly know? Why did I cry out of my own self pity when I could have simply remembered that this woman could be in pain and that I was merely a convenient target?

Of course, in my typical fashion, I have swung the pendulum a bit too far today. I'm melancholy... mourning the pain of everyone... sad for the 99% of people I encounter each day who seem angry/upset/frustrated/whatever. I allowed myself to become blue... and now I'm attempting to dig myself back out.

Balance.