Lake Lacrosse Trek {Sip 2: Gladness}

Camp broken under starscape crevasses—firs' towering darkness. Racing the rising sun up the final push of the pass, make it just a little too on time for the red of first light against the far peaks. Flurry of photos, flustered, and on to breakfast.

Almost asleep in the gentle grasses at Home Sweet Home, sun warm and strong against our skin. We lay there together while time drifts away on the breeze. Sun's already high when we're back on the trail. Brain prickling with ever-shortening days.

Long day with the old growth spirits—through solemn sacred forests of trees with bark like scales of an old dragon who long ago sat down in meditation and let his clawed feet grow into the earth. Impossible not to imagine the kami living in these trees, their silent tinkering with the luck of travelers. Call out—just in case—with a humble prayer for their blessings as we pass through their woods. All that's lost is regained in turn, and so we climb back up from Duckabush Crossing to the alpine country, LaCrosse Basin and Mt. Steel.

Even with our dawdling, we break timber just before the peak of the long autumn sunset. Heron, Grouse, Bear, & Rising Moon come to give us their good blessings, and we know this is the answer of the mountain spirits. We set up camp again in the dark, now casting shadows in silver, and rest our tired bones.