Until the railroad came through in the 1880s, there used to be fire in the Jemez Mountains all the time. There were years the whole Jemez burned.

It's like fire burning through 30- to 40-foot-tall grass.

Of all the fire mountains which like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest.

These people set the weapons on fire because they are retreating toward the mountains and they want to eliminate all evidence of keeping arms.

The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time. Time to think or not think, read or not read, scribble or not scribble -- to sleep and cook and walk in the woods, to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills. I produce nothing but words; I consumer nothing but food, a little propane, a little firewood. By being utterly useless in the calculations of the culture at large I become useful, at last, to myself.

It's depressing, you miss the time out in the mountains. I'm still going to hike a little.