I stood at the edge of a lake like this once and forgot to breathe for a second. The water is that impossible turquoise, bright as a jewel, and the mountains sit in it upside down so perfectly you have to remind yourself which way is up. The peaks are grey and white, streaked with old snow in the gullies, and the dark pine forest runs right down to the shoreline like a green ribbon. The sky is nothing but blue. No clouds to hide behind. I remember the cold. I remember the sound the water made against the rocks, a slow slap, a slow hush. My hands were in my pockets and I wasn't thinking about anything. That's the rare thing. Not the view. The quiet mind that comes with it. Some places don't ask anything of you. They just hold you still until you settle. Then you walk back down the trail, changed by nothing you can name. The reflections wobble a little if you look fast, then lock back into place. Stone and sky, twice over. Nature keeping its own books, everything entered two times. #lake #mountains #reflection #stillness
