It had been a long time since I headed into the mountains, too long, and though I am a desert rat at heart, the mountains are an important and much needed yin to the desert's yang... It's only six hours to Durango. With a good start you can be there by noon... Forgot how much I yawn at altitude... I forgot how changeable and volatile the weather is. Sunshine and blue skies one minute, thunder lightning and hail the next. The mountains create their own weather like a mad abstract painter...The trout rise in the evening when the lake is glass, but trying to anticipate that, trying to find a logical pattern in the weather, was impossible. Even the wind doesn't know which direction to come from...
The fish. Let's just say it will be a long time before I'm happy catching 10 inch stockers out of Arizona ponds again... The water. Wow. It flows, falls, rushes roars out of the mountains with infinite exuberance. It pours forth, giving itself away with selfless abandon. Sitting by a desert stream is relaxing. Standing by a raging mountain cascade is exhilarating...
I did that Vallecito Creek hike years ago. But I remember so little of it. Walking up the first three miles, I could not believe how utterly spectacular it was. How do you forget something like that? High on a granite ledge above the raging gorge, we turned a corner and below us was a beautiful waterfall framed above by a snow-capped pyramid peak. It was so beautiful that I just started laughing out of pure joy...
Can't remember the last time I laughed out of pure joy... Waking up in the night cold, shivering. Pulling the mummy bag up over my head and face to warm up... The pine pollen coating everything in a fine yellow dust...long conversations around a campfire. It's almost impossible to be anything but content and relaxed around a campfire in the wilderness...
Probably one of the great camping sites of my life. For once, I was perfectly content to just sit in my camp chair and enjoy the view...
