Life Will Break Through

Conrad Glacier--we didn't hike on this glacier,  but hiked to its terminus at the lake. For perspective, note the little tiny people on the right near the bottom of the photo.  Gives you an idea of the  immensity of the mountains and glaciers.

When I started hiking, being in the mountains, looking down to buildings dwarfed by the distance, the panoramic vistas, the staggering beauty that formed over billions of years, repeatedly stole my breath.  

That doesn't change, but now that I've become a bit accustomed to these phenomena, I begin to be more aware of life breaking through the rocky, inhospitable terrain.  (Emphasis on 'bit accustomed'--the immensity and beauty will always take my breath away.)

It's stunning to me is how life will form where we might least expect it. Just to my left in the photo below, you can see flowers  growing out of rock.

In the photos below,  our guide placed his foot by the flowers to provide some perspective.  He told me the campion moss in this photo took about twenty-five to fifty years to grow near the glacier, in the shale and rocks.  It's a long time for a little bit of plant, but there it is... 

25-50 years of campion moss

A close up of 50 years of moss:

Even when we leave the glaciers and are in greener spaces, I'm taken by the beauty and wonder of life emerging.  

Fireweed and Queen Anne's Lace

What I learn about mountains, about glaciers slowly sculpting the earth, about plant life struggling to make its way here....that always puts things in perspective for me.   

Those tiny flowers took 50 years to grow.  Those mountains are many millions of years old.  What was it I was worried about? I forget.

Nothing like nature to help keep things in perspective. 

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For more information on helihiking trips like this one, visit, 

http://www.canadianmountainholidays.com