of a 4 year old and the mountain

Our son Ike asked to have the pictures denser with information so that they could be clicked on and not turn grainy as they are expanded. It takes longer to download/upload. Let me know whether it's a good idea or not to have it so. Thanks!


LeConte ‘09









“you just want to see smiles on everyone’s faces, don’t you?”

guilty as charged,
my sister-in-law knows me
and she gets why I walk upon this Earth,
to find that which is sacred within nature
and sacred within everyone’s hearts,
and when the holy within and without resonate
often a person smiles with the rightness of it all,










this morning it is the day after our LeConte trip
when 42 of us hiked up the mountain,









spent the night, and hiked back down,
the hike up a wonder of honest effort and glorious view,








from the rivulets, moss, flowers,










and trees nearby,
to the mountains clear as they fell out and away from us,








the sunset breathtaking in its clarity and grey in its color,








those same clouds that greyed the sunset hid the stars from us
and hazed the great Moon as she tried to get through,

by early morning the clouds settled down on us in a persistent drizzle,
and I sadly gave up my dream of sunrise
and the camaraderie of shared awakening,










the hike down a misty morning of feeling one with all the liquid
falling from the sky,flowing down the trail, and seeking the valley,











the trip a time to get out from behind the bars of individuality
into bonds with the other--friends, flora,













fauna, the mountains themselves,

our four-year-old granddaughter hiked all the way up, and all the way down,












of such is the kingdom, & the power, & the glory.

by Henry Walker
August 3, ‘09