Up in the Backbone

The Blackfeet referred to the Rocky Mountains as the "backbone of the world". And they were right! There is nothing so eloquently fitting than to call this enormous snaking spine of rock stretching from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic a backbone. I'm reminded of it every day out here hiking over its folded ridges and pockmarked contours.

We had a brilliant hike today passing over this high pass. The orange specks on the rocks you see here are called jewel lichen. And like bright jewels they seem to glow and dazzle on the rocks. Natural art and inspiration.

It reminds me of a favorite quote by Antoni Guadi, famed 19th century gothic architect. "Originality is returning to the origin."