"Rocky Mountain High." What do those words make you think of? John Denver's singing perhaps? I used to think about John Denver when I heard those words but now I think of how I feel when I get above 12 or 13 thousand feet. I get altitude sickness. I feel dizzy. My nose bleeds. My head hurts. My nasal passages swell. I feel a weight on my shoulders. My lungs feel like I'm trying to breathe through a straw. I'm not getting enough oxygen. And I feel incredibly thirsty. I can drink and drink and still not have enough to drink. My throat and skin are dry. I'm just not myself. I can take Aleve for the headache but I still have a Rocky Mountain High. Here is a photo of an alluvial fan in Rocky Mountain National Park. In the 1980's, a dam failed above the spot where I took the photo. A lake emptied and came down tearing this valley. Boulders the size of cars and larger were carried down by the flood and fanned out at this spot. It's terrifying to see the destruction. Campers were killed. The water eventually made it's way down to Estes Park and flooding the town.
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