September Ramble

Day 353: Yesterday, my friend Maggie and I celebrated the season's end by taking a short hike to Dege Peak above Sunrise. Maggie had finished her seasonal term in the Park and I'd worked in some capacity or another for ten days straight, so you might have thought we'd go in town for a movie or something, but that's not the way of those of us who love the outdoors. It was the proverbial "busman's holiday," and cool temperatures, a slight breeze and grey skies provided near-perfect conditions for the walk. The only thing missing was a view of the Mountain, its dominating figure almost entirely hidden beneath a dark-bottomed cloud.

The brooding skies provided an additional benefit of ideal light for photographing Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia), a subject which invariably glares under any ray of sun. These delicate flowers are one of the signature species in the subalpine zone and can often be found in groupings, their bells pendent from thready stems and trembling in the lightest current of air. They frequently persist right up until first snow, as if trying to hold the last traces of summer sky. For us, they rang out September and the season's close.