Lost World (Mobile)

Hiking in a lost world drained of color, we passed by the bridge to Nowhere, as we climbed higher and higher.

Indeed, there was Nowhere to go but up.

Lungs hurt from the influx of chilled air, as did our quads from exertion, despite all the diligent stretching. 

Boots filled with snow.

I stopped to document the disappearing surroundings with my smartphone only to be startled by a woodpecker perched on a nearby tree stump. But my loyal and long-eared canine did not give me the chance to identify it, scaring it off into the Gray.

On this frozen mountain, this was not the only avian we encountered. What now seemed like a regular fixture, a large black raven dove in and out of the fog, the only thing revealing its presence in the other--hidden--world was its audibly flapping wings.

The snow fog also concealed most of the already meager signs of civilization which is always exciting and unsettling at the same time.  

It is particularly unsettling when the aforementioned loyal canine--in possession of the second-best sense of smell of all dogs in the world--stopped, listened, and sniffed the air in a way that was much different from its standard behavior around deer and grouse.

Something more menacing was nearby, and it was almost dusk.

We headed in.

The Gray is Back

The Gray is back.

And it's only natural--Autumn is prime feeding time, as it has to fatten itself up before Winter. Just like the local grizzlies, minus the claws. 

Following its standard routine, the Gray arrived the day of September's New Moon and began doing what it does best: gobbling up the Mountain. 

Incidentally, the Mountain herself didn't mind: it had so many daily responsibilities of housing all those trees, deer, turkeys, wolves, people, and, yes, grizzlies, that it often felt like a bona fide Atlas. Sometimes, it's nice to take a little nap in all that spa-like fog!

Unlike the last time, I let the Mountain have its "me-time," traveled back into town, and was thus able to capture that rare moment when the Gray's belly burst from all the gluttony.  

What you see below is the Sun slowly crawling out feet..errr...rays first! 

But this small victory only took place over the main Mountain's little sister. To top that off, it was late in the evening, so the Sun had to be off to bed on schedule!

And the Gray? The Gray is still here the morning after.