Endless Experiences Stretch Beyond One Mountain

Realizing that we will always discover new moments to capture

I literally danced on the mountaintop like Julie Andrews. I don’t mean literally, figuratively.

I mean . . . I really danced.

For over an hour, nature put on a show that left me overwhelmed. With music in my ears, I thought back to what had brought me here.

Five days of backpacking culminated in a night scramble up a ridiculously loose scree-covered mountain. As I continually slipped backwards, I felt the oppressive clouds erasing the stars into an inky black sky.

I arrived at the summit just in time to set up my tripod and capture the first rosy luminance of the coming day paint the clouds above Beckwith Mountain. Soon, fire burst through a hole in the clouds on the horizon, revealing the rising orb of the sun.

I’d seen this before, and always recognized how special it was. But this time the show wasn’t over when the sun reached the cloud bank.

Instead, the hole moved upward with the sun. I turned to see the curtain flung wide, revealing an elemental stage. A spotlight methodically moved across this dreamscape while royal actors stood towering in the distance, waiting expectantly for their turn.•

First, there was the overflowing valley spilling its light upward. This was followed by The Castles, spires of volcanic tuff that appeared so prominent from the valley below but seemed almost diminutive from my lofty stance.

Next came West Elk Peak, a monolith adorned in gold. Beckwith Mountain received a second chance in the spotlight before it moved ever so slowly across a new valley, this time forming tiny rainbows.

But nature had saved the best for last when it illuminated the primordial ridges of The Dyke, clawing upward from the jewels toward Ruby Peak.

I was on top of the world. I took my final shot, then laughed and laughed as a single-engine plane flew through the valley below me.

It was over now. The spotlight was shuttered, and the clouds turned to lead. The peaks, which had been brilliant, were now flat and lifeless.

I peered through my viewfinder, seeing the evidence I’d collected. It was all there. Every precious moment.

The wind picked up, and I shivered. I wanted it all to come back, but I knew it was time to go home.

Why do we cling so tightly to experiences, wishing to capture them so they’ll never go away?

It seems that instead of enjoying pleasant experiences, we spend them trying to capture memories or berating ourselves for not enjoying them enough. We cling to the last hours of a wonderful weekend while cringing at the thought of the workweek ahead.

“My precccccious,” croons Gollum while stroking the One Ring, letting his life decay into a moldering cesspit of loathing.

Photography is the worst at this, since, by its very nature, it looks backward.

Maybe it is because we live with anticipatory dread instead of anticipatory joy. What would be different if we had a deep-seated belief that life will continue to be filled with wonderful moments, big and small, each one unique and never repeatable?

A lifetime filled with more.

The centralized belief here is that life is good. The world is good. And our experience of both can be overwhelmingly good. If you believe that the world and living in it are basically crappy, then it is understandable to wish to hold on to a moment that isn’t.

I wonder about the “fine art" photographers who have stopped shooting “pretty" things because it is cliche’d and boring. When you stop seeking beauty, it’s guaranteed you’ll stop finding it.

Having positive expectations isn’t a personality trait that one is born with. It is a conscious choice that one must work hard to foster.

At most, I give the media about ten minutes of my attention each day. I want to guard my soul from the howling masses of doomsayers, talking heads, and pundits

When I get sucked into the attention economy by commercials and advertisers, my life feels lacking in all the things they sell.

Those who seek power and money get it by screaming about bad news and want. Pay too much attention to them, and that is what your life becomes.

Instead, I notice the sunlight every day. I have a loving family. I have meaningful work. And I write about it all in a daily gratitude journal. Pay attention to the good experiences long enough, and your subconscious will shift from want to plenty. From Armageddon to a new day.

It’s like coming out of the desert, where any drop of good feelings must be jealously guarded and conserved for future use, only to find yourself next to a beautiful green flowing stream that always brings you an endless supply of fresh experiences. There is no reason to lament the loss of any particular drop that rushes by, because there are endless drops and they just keep coming.

To get out of the desert and next to the rushing stream is a lifetime discipline. But there are immediate benefits to guarding the types of inputs you allow in your life. The first is being able to hold the good times loosely enough that you can fully enjoy them and then let them go.

I love the fact that beyond the mountain, there will always be more mountains. If you find joy, you will find it again. Where there is hope, there will always be more hope.

And there will always be more beautiful photographs to take.

Note: This series of photos was taken by me during a one-hour period in between bouts of dancing from sheer joy.

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