When John Denver released his song “Rocky Mountain High”, some radio stations banned the song because they felt that “high” referred to drug use.
As Denver later explained, and anyone who has experienced real rugged mountains realizes, the high he referred to was that sense of elation one feels when you experience an epic mountain panorama and soak in the beauty and majesty of such scenery.
I have been fortunate to experience mountains a number of times, and one never loses that feeling of elation and wonder when standing on top of a mountain.
In 2002 Janet and Jessica and I had the trip of a lifetime when we flew by helicopter to Big Paw Point at 11,000 feet above sea level in the Purcell Mountains in “Beautiful British Columbia” Canada.
We hiked through the tundra and drank cool crisp unfiltered glacier water. My brother-in-law Ruddi, a certified guide, walked us through a section of the Purcell Mountains. Ruddi carried a gun in case we were confronted by an animal which wasn’t friendly. This part of the world is home to grizzly bears who realize they are at the top of the food chain.
We started at 11,000 feet and hiked down to 5,000 feet and I discovered aching muscles I didn’t realize I had. While hiking uphill is tough, walking downhill requires a whole unique set of muscles. Even my downhill skiing didn’t prepare me to a downhill hike this, and we all found it difficult to walk for a couple of days.
It truly was the experience of a life time. We saw a variety of animals in their natural habitat including golden eagles, mountain goats and a grizzly, thankfully at a comfortable distance.
We ended up at a log cabin had a fairly flat area that the helicopter could land at to pick us up and take us back to Golden B.C. I think we were all pretty grateful, as were our various leg muscle groups, to not have to hike any further downhill.
Whether it’s the thinner air at higher altitudes, the breathtakingly beautiful scenery or the necessity of contemplating one’s place in the universe when standing amongst such massive natural wonders, it is hard not to experience an amazing natural ‘high’ in a magical place like this.
You can check out GoogleEarth to see places such as this all you want, but there is no computer-generated image or virtual reality experience that can replace that feeling of profound wonder when you visit them in person.
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