 James Peak by Way of St. Mary's Glacier
We hop over stones and rocks
till we arrive at the base of
Saint Mary’s Glacier looming
above dark waters of a tarn lined
with sweet-smelling spruce where
we ascend the trail to the glacier’s
edge to take out our poles and
traverse the soft snow over ice
back and forth as we enjoy the
squeaking marmots amid tundra
blossoms all along the sides.
 A Botanic Surprise in the Mosquito Range
Between Mount Cameron and Lincoln
On a north-facing slope just below
Fourteen thousand feet, I am surprised
To discover a charming piece of tundra
Reminding me of dusty, deserty prairie
Far below where cactus and yucca grow.
But up here I stop to admire an entire
Colony of succulent dwarf mulleins with
Delicate pinkish blossoms...
 Betwixt and Between Storms on Bierstadt
Descending from the summit
encircled by lightning storms,
we find a protective hollow
in the rocks far above treeline
to have a breadless lunch of
thick slices of zucchini
sandwiching thinner slices
of cheese and salami put
together in an assembly line
of very hungry climbers who
listen with concern to the
booms of thunder all around.
 Up Sundance Peak
We see them up there—several
herds of tundra elk, and rising
above them, Sundance Peak.
We cannot resist leaving our car
to hop from rock to rock across
the flowerful terrain and almost
merge with these slow-moving
grazers who pay no mind to us
as we hoof along a ridge higher
than they, where we can admire
the Mummy Range stretching
north...
 Up Over Flattop
We three trek the trail
above Bear Lake winding
through twisted limber pine
under cobalt-blue skies
crowning Hallett’s Peak
that flanks crinkled-white
Tyndall Glacier stretching
to the horizon’s rim where
tundra sunflowers flutter
in alpine breezes bringing
to mind Monet’s paintings,
but alive with rosy finches
and tiny squeaking pikas
dashing between dark rocks
and gleaming white snow.
 Heavy Spirited on Shadow Mountain
On that morning, bright and clear,
bright and clear was my mind.
My mind took in Shadow Mountain;
Shadow Mountain rose above a lake,
a lake that reflected dense forests.
Dense forests coated the rising hill.
The rising hill had a winding trail.
The winding trail was my objective;
my objective seemed so clear that day.
that day, alas, proved to be challenging,
challenging me beyond my spirit's core.
My spirits core seemed so numbed,
So numbed that I could not begin.
Begin I tried but sat right down,
sat right down on the ground below.
The ground below held me captive.
 Popcorn Snow on Greys Peak
Constant bands of clouds
race across the sky
as we climb the trail
above the trees toward
misty Greys Peak early
in the morning.
We stop to admire
clusters of sunflowers
bobbing in the wind
and listen to the
whistle pigs’ piercing
calls echoing from
ledge to ledge as we
switch back and forth
just beneath the summit
under patches of blue
between the racing clouds.
 Goat High on Torreys Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Just one last burst of energy
before I reach my climbing
buddies who stand on the
summit under a brilliant
blue dome of sky where they
chat with a dozen shaggy
white mountain goats
offering sincere gratitude
to the goats for sharing
their rugged alpine home.
 High Noon on Sneffels
Early morning couldn’t have been clearer
with only thin clouds in the sky as we
climb up a thin and winding trail to see
alpine images glimmer on a third blue lake,
and, as we gain views of Yankee Boy Basin,
carpeted with flowers like a giant Monet
painting, we see our challenge of a rocky
scramble straight up to a tundra ledge
dotted with fellow climbers an hour ahead.
-sm.jpg) Sliding Down Clark Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Late in May I had to have some mountain relief
and packed my pup tent and backpack with
some food, then headed up to Cameron Pass
overlooking Poudre Canyon, and after a chilly
night’s sleep under cold stars where I could
hear pumping blood coursing through my veins,
I arose and perked some coffee and ate a bowl
of granola...
 A Summer Snowstorm on Mount Princeton
By Richard F. Fleck - We gingerly stepped across the tundra in a freezing rain that iced our trail high on Mount Princeton that made each rock a wobbly challenge in strong winds that flared out our ponchos forcing us to become struggling bats when at last we found a cave for shelter from rain changed to snow, and after a brief respite from the storm, we clambered up to 13,000 feet barely keeping our balance, and then some descending climbers shouted “don’t even try it!"
 Ptarmigans of Tabeguache
By Richard F. Fleck - We stand atop the first green tundra ridge on our way to the summit of Mount Tabeguache, but we must pause to watch a bevy of alpine ptarmigans walking along nonchalantly with plumage about to change for winter having white bellies and spotted brown-feathered backs and nervous little heads with beady eyes quite aware of us
 A Strange Occurrence on Mount Zirkel
By Richard F. Fleck - As close to Wyoming as could be,
I rambled through the Park Range
forests at the base of Mount Zirkel
and began to climb some rocky ledges
until the pines began to thin and I paused
to stare into the limitless rolling plains of
the big North Park fringed with snowy
Never Summer peaks to the cloudy east.
 Hagues Peak - A Case of Altitude Sickness
By Richard F. Fleck - Only twice in fifty years have I come down
with altitude sickness, once in the Wind Rivers
and once here on the flanks of Hagues Peak
A bit after we peered far down to Crystal Lake
and a little before our final scramble
up the last three hundred feet. Perhaps I hadn’t
eaten quite enough at breakfast or perhaps it
was coming across a dead Clark’s Nutcracker
flat on a rock, but my head began to pound ...
 A Snowy Night in Northern Montana
By Richard F. Fleck - On a very snowy night camped at MacDonald Lake,
we shiver in our sagging tent as winds snap aspen
branches overhead and we wonder just why we chose
early June and not July to camp in Glacier Park where
early summer is nothing more than a late-winter.
 Three Front Range Haiku
By Richard F. Fleck - Twin Sisters - Through golden aspen
We climb to top to see high
Gray block of Longs Peak.
Squaw Peak -
Winding past lodgepoles,
We quickly ascend loose slabs
To summit in space. Devil’s Head -
We slip on dark ice
In slanting woods until steps
Take us up highest ridge.
 View from Togwotee Pass
By Richard F. Fleck - There
you stand
and stare but your
mind cannot even start
to decipher what raw vision
reveals. Huge slabs of granite
protrude like fingers poking the sky
through layers of snow so high in space,
so high above the sagebrush and glacial kettle holes
and larger blue lakes sparkling in sun reflecting upside-
down images giving your mind twice as much to absorb.
 Snowy Range Sundown
By Richard F. Fleck - Nothing better than to be
Walking a trail above the trees
And looking out across the way
To distant mountains and other
Northern snow-patched peaks
At the end of the day
When an orange-gold sun
Sinks beneath the tundra
 A Medicine Bow Peak Ritual
By Richard F. Fleck - Each Labor Day for ten years straight
my family and I would climb to the sky
from Lewis Lake following a winding
trail through patches of willows hiding
gurgling streams with clear and icy water
feeding roots of marsh marigolds and
patches of bright and shining glacier lilies.
 Heavy Summer Snow Atop the San Francisco Peaks
By Richard F. Fleck - Two German climbers signed out on
the log writing that the snow was too
deep and they finally had to turn around.
“But that was yesterday,” remarked one of
my friends as we shouldered our packs
hit the trail where we rapidly gained a
view of the entire Snow Bowl with lesser
crests of the ancient volcano comprising
the sacred San Francisco Peaks that rose
forever skyward in glistening whiteness.
 Deep Down the Kaibab Trail
By Richard F. Fleck - Deep within the spruce and fir,
I make my camp along the North Rim,
but before I eat my supper, I walk
over to the nighttime edge of the
Grand Canyon to peer three or four
thousand feet down to see a tiny
flickering campfire way below that
will lure me down very early the next
day from a chilly forty degrees into
heat of mid-summer and then some—
from Canadian forest to Mexican
desert with shoulder-high prickly pears
and Spanish bayonets
 Arizona High
By Richard F. Fleck - Thin gray cirrus clouds
streak the sky as we amble
through a meadow of purple
lupine and black-eyed susans
with dark and pyramidic
Humphreys Peak rising
upward another 3000 feet.
We enter sweet pine forest
floors springing forth with
mushrooms of every shape
and color, white columbines
and purple penstemon.
 Atop Kings Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Once on the summit
of King’s Peak, highest
in Utah, we notice
a scarcity of flowers
but a richness in diversity
of rocks from granites
to shales to quartzites
and sandstones, all of
reddish-brown hue.
 Haystack Ramble
By Richard F. Fleck - From Geyser Pass through the woods,
we emerge into a bright green meadow
covered with all sorts of alpine flowers
high in the La Sal Mountains of Utah.
We rest just beneath the rocky slabs
of Haystack Peak and search the tundra
for rayless daisies that are known to grow
 A Mellethin Sunrise
By Richard F. Fleck - I crawl out of my sleeping bag
at Geyser Pass high in the La Sals
just before sunrise to walk out into
the meadow and look across at
Mellenthin Mountain, dark and gray,
but with a tinge of light near its
summit, and as the sun rises,
the mountain’s north face turns
into a fancy’s show box with
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