Today I would like to share my favorite mountain with you.   This picture was taken from my front porch this morning.   In a person that you love, the best quality is that they are unchanging, the essential thing that you love about them stays the same.  Ah, but when you love a mountain, the best quality is that it constantly changes.   One time it is dark and mysterious, sometimes it is snow covered,  it can be ablaze with golden aspens, sometimes it disappears.  It always offers up something new.

I have heard rumors that it is also quite beautiful as the sunrise breaks over the face of the mountain, with light gradually moving from the peak down to the base, but I am unable to vouch for this as I have never seen it 😉

Fun facts:  It was called Long Mountain by the Arapahoe,  El Capitan by the Spanish and it’s current name was give by an American explorer in 1806.   The elevation at the summit is 14,115 feet above sea level.   Gold was discovered on the back of the mountain in 1893, the same year “America the Beautiful” was written after a trip to the summit.   There is a cog railroad ($36/person) or a road ($12/person) to the top and you can see Kansas.   There is an annual foot race and car race to the top (they do not run at the same time), and fireworks on New Years’ Eve (set off by crazy men who hike to the top).