9,000 feet, 7 AM, 20 degrees:
First snow paints the bald pate
above tree line on the trail
to Medicine Mountain.
Tracks sharp as an arrow, chevron-heeled appear, then
ahead crimson coat, black stockinged, brush-tipped tail
dabbed white, fox turns
surprised, backward glancing
uphill away
from us.
Full moon setting, sun rising
seesaw over the ridge
cusp, turning seasons
on the Bighorn
Medicine Wheel.
Christopher Spatz, inspired by Dave Foreman announcing the birth of Earth First! on the Today Show in the early ’80s, procured a copy of Eco Defense and began his peripatetic pursuits as an eco-gadfly. Yanking surveying stakes, canvassing for Greenpeace in Boston, performing for Trenton, NJ’s Klark Kent eco-street theater troupe, directing the Gunks’ Climbers Coalition, and advocating for puma recovery as the president of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation were some of his ventures. He lives and writes from the Shawangunks in southern New York State.
Beautiful site to visit! Cheers to those who hike instead of drive the last mile or whatever it is. Being above tree line in a largely wild area is refreshing for the soul.