"Exhilarated and buoyant by what I was reveling in, I pushed up the first three thousand feet almost without stopping to take a breath . . . The mountains fairly seized me, and 'ere I knew I was was up the Canyon . . . I was alone and during the whole excursion . . . , was in a kind of calm, incurable ecstasy.  I am hopelessly and forever a mountaineer."

The Contemplative John Muir, p. 197

Photo: Alpine Sunflowers blooming next to Lake of Many Winds (11,610 feet high),Wild  Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 25, 2012.  I can really resonate with what Muir wrote here.  Yesterday, I needed to escape the thick forest fire smoke and 102 degree heat that was so oppressive here in town.  So I took off to the high country, and ended up doing a 16-mile round trip hike to Lake of Many Winds, a 3000-foot climb.  The last 1000 feet were quite steep, but the higher I climbed, the more energized I felt. Steep cliffs, cascading streams fed by large snowfields, vast wildflower meadows, and dramatic peaks all put me in a state of ecstatic joy that made the climb seem like no effort at all.  It was amazing!