On Altitude

Ten days ago I was at around 1575 feet above sea level. I had been at that level for around 9 months. I lived a few blocks from one of the 10,000 or 100,000 lakes of Minnesota (I swear that if you trip in Minnesota there is a 50/50 chance that you will fall headlong into a lake). I was a 15 minute drive from the highest point in Iowa. I never saw hawkeye point but I drove by the "highest point in Iowa ---> 1/2 mile" at least five times. There was a barn and old farm house at the top of a rolling hill in that direction.

Today, I hiked in the in the Tetons. We were in Darby canyon on the trail up to the wind cave. I have been enchanted by the wind cave hike since my youth. It is rife with whimsy for the imaginative soul. There is a twenty foot rock loaf of bread with a slice supposedly cut by Paul Bunyan, so called "Chinese writing", and a few spots where you can sit or stand behind waterfalls. It is beautiful. It is gorgeous. Today there were wild flowers blooming everywhere. But by far the most beauty was found beyond the trail in the unknown and adventurous land of the wilderness. It is always an experience to be blazing your own trail, surrounded by mountain ridges and meadows and brisk streams and sweeping vistas.

In the last ten hours I've been from 6,102 feet above sea level to somewhere a touch below 8,500 feet above sea level and back down to 4,400 some odd feet. I was expecting altitude sickness, but I didn't have to deal with that. And I am glad for that. I don't wear a name tag or a shirt and tie everyday any more (I am giving v-necked tees a try now, they are much more popular than they were before my mission), but I don't have have altitude sickness, so I'm happy. It's a rough transition but I'll just have to keep walking up this trail. It'll lead me somewhere good. Hopefully I stay altitude sickness free.