10.11.99

    Went hiking. Seven miles roundtrip but up, up, up. Making my calves scream and the air in my lungs rasp. Not a sound but the wind in the trees and our footsteps. At the top... what a view! Hood. Adams. St. Helens. Snow-capped against a blue sky, layed out on an undulating carpet of green. I sat down and fell back and watched the clouds drift by close enough to touch. Heat rising off my body. The wind swirled here and there playing with the top-most branches; sounding like distant waves crashing on a smooth shore. In between, so quiet. So perfectly quiet.