Back on the road again for our yearly elemental camping trek. Never knowing what surprises are in store for us as the weather has been intense and changeable since last winter Solstice. The road or track to the land was deep rutted with muddy banks, the car toppling, but holding steady deposited us on the side of Big Sheep Mountain, Southern Colorado.

There were four of us this time. After a heavy moisture laden winter and spring the green is abundant with thick lush waist high grasses and growth. Pitching our tents was quite a chore. So many flies mating in mid air swarming with life and lust made it a very closed mouthed venture. But like the gentle giant it is the mountain brought wind, blowing the fly cloud away with a soft breath. The mountain always provides a balance; no one else there the flies can dominate, but when some other life shows up sharing and balance come into play.

The weather was kind, big blue sky, great white clouds then yellowy-grey cloud cover cooling it down so we could walk in ease. The ground was shining with white, yellow, red, purple and green. Dancing and flowing bringing color and form to the plateaus and slopes.

The last couple of years Colorado has been parched and tinder box dry, primed for a fire, but this winter we lay under a blanket of snow for over two months and the spring has been sending curtains of rain every week. The local animals, rabbits, birds, snakes foxes and such had a hard winter rooting for food above the constant feet deep snow, so this verdant spring they are all feasting, fattening up and lazing in the grass.

Birds were singing their hearts out. They never stopped even through the night, celebrating this wonderful bountiful spring.

On the way in our gatekeepers were elk, three graceful ladies, sleeking through the fields. Later, picking up a rock to take back to our home-made labyrinth, a baby rattlesnake shared a moment of surprise and its magic with us.

Birds in abundance, lilting aspen leaves, babbling spring and rustling pines, this was the music that connected us to the earth and our dreams.

Circling the land up and down, crisscrossing through pine, scrub oak, cacti, rocks and greenery letting the freedom seep into our roots rising through our trunks and out our limbs connecting us one more to the renewal of life.

A short and wonderous visit but one that sustains us throughout the seasons with grateful hearts we headed home.

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