The higher I climb the closer I feel to God, so on Easter morning it seemed appropriate to make my highest climb of the spring. With first light I could see from home that the peak was going to be magnificent so I gathered up my equipment and headed out the door. The sun hadn’t cleared the ridge and I was anticipating coming upon the mule deer herd, so I set my camera to ISO 400 with an exposure adjustment of +.25, a good setting for low light and nervous animals.
Soon I was rewarded as I caught a glimpse of a white tail in the trees. I slowed my walk and tried to avoid snapping any of the multitude of twigs littered about the trail from the long winter of heavy snow and wind. The deer saw me but didn’t seem to be to concerned on this Easter Morning. I moved about in the shade of the pines getting as many of the subjects as possible from several angles. Eventually the deer showed signs of becoming annoyed so I headed up the mountainside to avoid chasing them away from the lush meadow they were enjoying.
Soon the magnificent view of snow covered Pikes Peak against a dark background of early morning rain clouds came into view. A quick change in camera settings to ISO 100 and and an exposure adjustment increase of a full stop to compensate for the brilliance of the morning sun on the fresh white snow was in order as I stopped to captured the mountain in all it’s springtime glory.
As I climbed ever higher, I stopped to capture intriguing changes in the lighting and shadows on the north face of the big mountain. Finally I arrived at my destination, the top of the ridge and respite from the annoying sound of the highway below. I found a good spot and sat down to soak in the magnitude of the sacrifice that makes my joy in such solitude complete. As I absorb the sights and sounds of that mountaintop creation I get a small sense of the magnitude of the Creator. What joy He must have felt as He created the birds and gave them each a unique and beautiful song to sing. What joy He must have felt when he settled on the perfect scent for the pine trees that provide us with life giving oxygen. How soothing is the sound of the mountain wind blowing through the needles of the massive trees swaying above.
There is never enough time to spend in this heaven on earth and I turned around to make my descent back down into the reality of life. However the time that I spend up there remains with me, on the silicon sensor of my camera and in the recesses of my brain where they can be recalled whenever the stress of life becomes too much and I need to draw near to the Comforter.
