San Francisco Peaks, Kachina Peaks Wilderness, January 2012
Sunrise is still a half hour away when I leave my truck and hike uphill into the forest, angling northeast across the feet of the San Francisco Peaks. The previous night's stillborn snowstorm is dragging a powerful cold front behind it and a biting wind is pushing down from the heights of the mountain. The treetops are swaying wildly back and forth disconcertingly. The gusts are at the upper range of comfort and I think seriously about packing it in, turning around, heading back down the mountain. It's risky being here at this time, dangerous even, but I decide to push on.
The woods are in a strange, apprehensive mood that I haven't felt here before. I find myself pausing often to listen and peer through the gloom, watching for movement behind fallen logs or shapes among the boulders. There is nothing, yet I can't help but wonder about skinny, winter-starved mountain lions and cranky, insomniac black bears.
Leroux Sunrise, Kachina Peaks Wilderness, January 2012
Sunrise approaches and I step out of the relative shelter of the trees into the vacuum of the old Leroux burn where I can look up at the mountains. It is good to be out of the murkiness, although in the open the windchill is very low -- single digits at most -- and my fingers ache and burn and go numb as I ready my camera.
When the austere January dawn finally breaks upon the mountain it is thin and cold and beautiful.
Is there any better way to spend a Sunday morning?
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