Here is the last paragraph of my latest blog post. Full at http://blog.cheapmotelsandahotplate.org
"This is also a fine hike to take in the Fall, especially if it is warm and the aspens are turning yellow and red. But be prepared to be overcome by melancholy. As you sit above the meadow, you will sense that ineffable change in the air and light that tells you summer is over and winter is coming. The aspen leaves have a drier, almost premonitory sound. There is an eerie stillness along the path through the lodgepole pines. The bears will be sleeping soon. At the top, the sun isn’t shining quite as brightly as it did that spectacular June afternoon. The mountains stare back at you as if to say, “Poor mortal, you will be dust when I am still rising mightily above the plains.” Yet, even they won’t last forever. As Kurt Weill reminds us: “It’s a long, long while from May to December, But the days grow short when you reach September.” I have reached mine, and someday so too will the mountains and even the earth itself."
Michael Yates