See Beautiful - The Alpine Edition

My reaction to worries about my dogs' or my health is to go do something that we love. Yesterday, Shyla and I took advantage of a rare completely storm-free day to get high up into the alpine world.

We climbed up to the Continental Divide, and peered to the west at the gorgeous view.

On the very high exposed ridge, the wind was howling out of the west.

We quickly descended into a basin contain an alpine lake! The wind was calm there, and no one else was around except for some marmots who had Shyla's attention.

As soon as I let her, Shyla hopped in the lake. Its water level was very low compared to most years. She could wade way out. I could almost hear her saying "throw it, throw it"!

So, I did, and she leaped through the freezing water to retrieve it. I cannot imagine swimming in such cold water but she loved it.

We lingered in high altitude solitude for quite a while. We played games on the soft autumnal colored tundra.

And Shyla sat atop boulders to survey the marmots and pikas.

But, all too soon, we had to start our trek downward. But, first, one more funny photo of the power of the wind on top of the Divide. Shyla was almost falling over in it!

The last part of the hike was all downhill through very rocky terrain. Downhill makes my spine scream in pain but it's worth it to go up so high. I wish that I could run like Shyla. Alas, my docs outlawed running for me... thank goodness for hiking and biking!

Happy See Beautiful Friday. To me, there's nothing more beautiful than the high mountains and seizing the day!