Westcliffe

We were up early the next day to have a practice run at a walk in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.  The height above sea level of my brother's mountain house is 9990 feet - or to us metric folk  - 3045 meters, and so oxygen is a little thinner. We had ambitiously thought that we could manage a 10km hike here,  to some waterfall in the mountains and my brother decided to put me to the test.  We set out without having breakfast first and did a 3.5 km loop up the Venable Trail.  After climbing for a while I began to feel nauseous and realised I would need to become acclimatised first and also have some breakfast before I thought of going places.  Needless to say, we did not go further afield.

 My brother on the trail ahead.

If there is peace on earth I am sure it is here. A beautiful house in the mountains with trails emanating outward along the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and views eastward to the Wet Mountains, it is unrivaled in any locale that gives me a sense of peace and contentment with my place on the earth. There is a certain reminiscence of my upbringing at National Park here - a sense of the untouchable isolation and beauty of nature.