Mt. Healy

It was bad weather in the morning so I didn’t go on a park walk. By the time the weather cleared up, it was too late. So I decided to do one of several marked out hikes from the park entrance. I hiked up Mt. Healy. It was birch and other trees nearer the bottom and then cleared out to groundcover and small wildflowers. There were many ground squirrels at the top, and also lots of spiders running across the path. I looked down onto the buildings at the park entrance, over to the buildings in the town of Denali, and out onto the other mountains and valleys. I could see a plane flying lower than I was standing on the mountain. It was windy, and I love the sound of the wind filling my ears.

I love mountains so much! Ever since I went to the Himalayas, I have realized being in the presence of mountains clears a part of my thoughts and the paths to my memories. I think it has something to do with being reminded of the scale and majesty and timeline of nature. Looking at a mountain I think - I have to do better, I have to be true to myself. Because next to a mountain you are so teeny, so organic, and so fleeting.

I fantasized about becoming a hermit and living on a mountain with nothing but the wind and clouds and animals for company.

At the top of Mt. Healy, I decided to see if I got cell service – I did (there was a tower on a nearby mountain, I could see it). So I called my sister to say I was calling from the top of a mountain. I wonder if she gets tired of “I’m calling you from a lake,” “I’m calling you from a mountain,” “I’m calling you from some backwoods highway.” I can’t get decent service where I live so I make calls from random locations where I discover I can.

I ended up running down the whole mountain to try to catch a shuttle back from the park entrance to Denali - I made it, too!

Pictures: from Mt. Healy - I call that spire Mt. Doom!