My Weekend Trek

"Then answered Ra, “I created the heavens and the earth, I ordered the mountains, I made the great and wide sea, I stretched out the two horizons like a curtain." -James Frazer

Summit of Sphinx Mountain

Today I went on a hike up Sphinx mountain near Cameron, MT.  On my way, I kept hearing "ohhhh, and this is profoundly mythological!" Through 15 miles and 11,000 vertical feet, I noticed the landscape changes were stunning.  Not only through season changes, but through the vegetation that grew in sunny vs. shade areas, the difference in trees from low to high altitude, the dagger like shards of rock that chipped and slid under my every footstep, even the presence of snow on the summit seemed like a scene and a story from Metamorphosis.  There was a beginning: arriving at the base of the daunting mountain, the middle: taking thousands of steps to reach the crest where I could see the series of mountain ranges that emerged from the power of some god, and finally, the end: a delicious bison hamburger from an Ennis cafe. I had to wonder how many trees and rocks were once great worriers, and from which stream a beautiful nymph took a last drink before she morphed into a doe.  I suppose I should remember to be cautious about where my feet fall on the ground.