Redondo

Each step was more laborious than the last. The thin air seemed to take more out of me even as my lungs sucked to bring it in. At 11,000 feet I was within sight of the mountain’s peak. The final stretch was a dangerous scree slope capped in snow bringing Redondito to 12,000 feet.

Like many other mountain chains, here the second highest mountain, Redondito, held more challenge than the highest, Redondo. Redondo had a dirt road that one could take to the summit. No such thing was possible on Redondito; an enormous heap of incredibly loose scree, several hundred feet in height crowned this "Little Round Top".

I felt cheated by the air as I climbed. The thin, unsatisfying vapors refused to fill my lungs and yet the wind whipped about whistling through gaps in the stone; threatening to push me over. Dark clouds had begun to gather promising further abuse from rain, snow, or even hail.

On all fours now, I climbed higher, despite better judgment urging me to turn back from the gathering darkness and dangerous rock slides. Perhaps the strange tricks altitude plays the mind pushed me further. Either way I still moved up even as large shards of volcanic rock crashed below me, sounding like so many broken plates.

On the way down I looked back up towards the peak and its crown of trees. The rain has begun to fall and the descent holds more danger. The moment I had spent up there was trivial, hardly worth mentioning; perhaps only deserving a footnote at the end of the journey's account.

-2016-
bayou goula towhead

-2015-
the sea test

-2014-
the circumnavigator pt5
the circumnavigator pt4
the circumnavigator pt3
the circumnavigator pt2
the circumnavigator pt1
falling dream
the darkness
one hell of a mile 3&4
he will return
the believers
the horror pt2
the horror pt1
traces
death valley
whiteout

-2013-
paradise of outlaws
the mountain climbers 1&2
brought to surface
one hell of a mile 3
primordial
the lost world
inner gorge
a ghost story
the riddle
slaying the minotaur
heart of darkness
bayou
public lands
organ music
two sought adventure
the virgin river
the road north
preparations

-2012-
steal the world
the end of the world
el dorado
the valley of the kings 2
the valley of the kings 1
one hell of a mile 2
one hell of a mile 1
the mountain climbers rr4
heroes rr3
rainy roadtrip 2
rainy roadtrip 1
the transgression
sandstorm
sinister 2
sinister 1
dehydrated
anatomy
sleepwalking
new chapter

-2011-
like sedona?
torn in two
blink
bridge to nowhere
the door
hitting the wall
elusive 2
elusive 1
harquahala
hole
pick up lines

-2010-
revisited 2
revisited 1
which way?
lost mines
chute
monolith
freeze
slice
in their footsteps
a dance with death

-2009-
goodbyes
undercurrents
casting the bones
mountain thief
the deer hunter
strange temple
sanctuary
burial pt. 3
burial pt. 2
burial pt. 1
the apparition
return to hell
forsaken
the lower depths
underground lake
stretch sewer
the hidden lab
shadow movements
meager rations
sw8: the conclusion
sw7: lost gold mines
sw6: the big tubes
sw5: gold!
sw4: el calderon
sw3: redondo
sw2: ghosts
sw1: westward bound
leviathan
formaldehyde dreams
the underdark
in the beginning