Alta Peak

A training run in the proving grounds
A late summer scramble to test the spirit
And test how the ACL recovers
Before tackling the tallest of them all

A medical self evaluation
To see how the mind and body will react
Reading the signs within
Following the tracks left behind

Alta Peak
Medicine Mountain
Elderberries ripen along the trail
In the sun of the south facing slopes

Dense red fir forests
Interrupted by lush meadowed creeks
Campsites in the wildflowers
Quartz outcroppings in the streambeds

Near the treeline
The path winds round
A natural amphitheater of granite forms
To rival any mythical Mediterranean of old

Better suited for a sermon on the mount
Of clarity and truth in the way realized
Hallowed words of the new covenant
Echoed amongst the grizzled foxtail pines
Who were here when it was spoken

Higher still near the top
A slope of crystals ground to granules
Where one was found finer
Than any purchased in the stores of men

Fitting perfectly in the hand
I carried it to the summit
Washed it in a creek below
And given as a gift to the delight of the camp

It had served me no purpose
Since I don't believe in their powers
And the rejuvenation and second wind
I felt while slogging to the top?
Hypoxia euphoria I was told a month later
By a teacher of ways in the Whitney watershed

So I'll take that as truth
Lack of oxygen to the brain
A sign to watch out for
While rambling around the high places