"The mountains are calling and I must go." John Muir

     We had family visiting us last weekend and drove up the Mount Evans highway, the highest paved road in North America.  We drove to near the top of Mount Evans and then hiked the short rocky path to the 14265 foot summit.  It was glorious being up amidst the clouds and thin air, and to be higher than everything around us.        

At the summit.

     John Muir, a Scottish-born American naturalist (1838-1914) and an early advocate of the preservation of wilderness said to "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
     He knew whereof he spoke.
    

     This picture shows a krummholz formation (stunted trees near timberline on a mountain) of Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines (Pinus Aristata).  Bristlecone pines live longer than any other living organism. The oldest bristlecone pine is 3000 years old and is in California.  The oldest Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines are found on Mount Evans and are 1700 years old.
     I love these trees.  I had thought to come back in my next life as a big oak tree, treehugger that I am, but this would be better.  I would like to be a bristlecone pine in a krummholz formation as we all "travel the milky way together, trees and men" as John Muir suggested.  Can you imagine spending clear nights at timberline viewing the brilliant stars and the milky way?  It could be a nice way to spend 1700+ years.
    
    

     There were many of these unidentified plants lining the highway above timberline.  I found them fascinating.  They reminded me of the alien plant, Audrey II, from the 1986 movie "The Little Shop of Horrors."  I will have to watch that movie again to see if my memory is correct.  

"I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues."  Dr. Seuss

"I believe a blade of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars."  Walt Whitman


     Wishing you all a fun and relaxing Labor Day Holiday weekend.  Enjoy the last beautiful days of summer.