step back
swallowing snow

There was a patch of forest that swallowed the snow. Everything around it was white - powdery hills, peaks indistinguishable from the clouds, wide frozen fields - but this patch of forest was dark. The snow just couldn't settle. I don't know where it went, but from 30,000 feet above it looked like a cave, a hole in the earth with no explanation.

On a different flight, only a week later, on an entirely different landmass, I saw straight lines that must have been roads, but my sense of proportion had warped. I couldn't tell if the land was flat, or if those lines went straight up in the air, bound to the rising flank of a mountain range.

snow peaks on the Pacific West Coast from 30,000 ft

Most of the snow has melted now. The stuff that remains makes itself known in high, stubborn drifts. I question how long it all lasts, whether the summers here are harsh enough to wipe the mountains clean, or whether these peaks are close enough to the sky to hold on through all seasons.

Somewhere over the Pacific West Coast 070723