When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
We began the trip with a drive out to Rocky Mountain National Park. The last time I visited RMNP was in January when everything was well and truly frozen and snow-packed, so I was hoping things would be a little more thawed in April. We opted to try Emerald Lake, an easier 3.5-mile loop to an alpine lake nestled in the heart of the mountains. We were hoping that the lake wouldn’t be frozen despite the promise of snow lingering on the ground.
Read MoreDuring my trip out to Colorado last August, we decided to take a roadtrip to Salt Lake City, UT, for a couple days. I’d never been to Salt Lake before, and I was really excited to check out the city and get some cool hiking in. Enter: crazy wildfire season. Enter: pressure system over SLC. Literally the weekend we went to SLC, smoke from the California wildfires moved into the city due to high winds and something about the weather system that was in the area trapped the smoke in the city. In the city, you weren’t supposed to be outside for long periods, and the day we drove in, everything was coated in a orange haze, like some kind of Mad Max apocalyptic color-grading.
Read MoreIn early August of 2021, I had the opportunity to visit Colorado during the warmer months for the first time. One of my best friends lived in Denver at the time, and Ryan and I squeezed in a short visit before my fall semester began. Last time I was here was January, so everything was covered in snow, but on this trip, we were blessed with perfect warm weather and sunshine for our alpine lake hike.
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