Mountains

Mt Adams 

There are entire worlds down there. All day hikes of stunning vistas, high altitude trails of powdery gray dust covering shoes and the nearby plants after being kicked up from those that have come before. And brilliant white sunshine.  

A drink from glacial runoff. Streams with boulders and pebbles, dry and white in the sun, the water swiftly moving in the channels, almost creamy appearing with the faint taste of watermelon. 

The rare grotesquely deformed yet strangely beautiful evergreen trees scattered here and there. Survivors, gnarled and twisted from the harshness of winter -  unbelievable cold, fierce winds, driving snow and ice - the trees stand as testament to nature's tenacity and as reminder of what is to soon come. 

But for now, in the gentleness of summer, delicate wild flowers along the way moving in a soft breeze - beautiful, if only for the moment.