Under Mummy Mountain

Aspen, ponderosa pine, blue spruce

pink glacier-cut rock, scree, ravens

gray jay, peregrine falcon, hawk.

We climb to 11,000 feet in three days, 

camp at Lawn Lake for three days. Alpine

tundra. Elk, bighorn sheep, marmot.

Tileston Meadows, ticks in grass, 

rock face of Mummy Mountain.

Binoculars show pink cracks in gray rock.

Stoke gas stoves, play cards.

Boil water, set up tarps, lay out

sleeping bags, hang bear bag.

Watch crescent moon slice into

Fairchild Mountain. Moonlight

makes a mosque of the rocks.

Yellow aspen splash in dark green

spruce and pine. Gullies where streams

slash during spring snowmelt.

One rock, feather or flower worth

more than money. Need no wallet, 

keys. Just clothes for fur.

All day climb toward saddle to see

what's on other side. One hawk floating

among bare peaks and over valleys.

Wind at 13,000 feet

turns to sleet. Turn back from peak, 

take boulders two at a time down.

Winter moves into mountains.

Then we fly from Denver to New York

where it's still summer.