The Sawatch Cowpoke

I could never put my finger on it growing up, whether it was the inability to sit still or pay attention to singular things for long periods of time, or if it was just the fact that I never felt quite right no matter where I was, but for some reason, I do believe that I have never felt ever really, truly, content.     That’s not to say that I have never felt comfortable. I’ve just never really ever felt content.  For most of my life leading up to now, that has left me with emptiness, resentment, and a growing source of anger within my own psyche. I’ve never been a docile person. Anger and aggression always has a way of contorting my emotions. Regardless of if I outwardly showed it or not, I felt upset often. If i’m honest with myself, which is something admittedly I should be more, I still get upset quite often. However, do not mistake that for me doing nothing in the face of a situation that I can full well rightfully change.     See, in the past, I would let myself get so ups

My eyes searched the dimly-lit sky for other clouds than the large front before us. It was shortly before sunrise and Matt and I were nearly to the boulderfield below the summit bloc of Long’s Peak within our home of Rocky Mountain National Park. Above, the sky was split in half. Behind us, from the direction of the wind, a seemingly bluebird and open sky. In front of us, a thick pack of low-lying clouds. They would end up being our saving grace.     The two of us had been scheming this mission for quite a while now. It was the end of the winter here in the Rockies, or I should say at least the coldest part of winter (it proceeded to snow on/off for a few weeks after this). Matt and I had spent the entire winter looking up at Long’s from town. The north face and the diamond permeating the back of our minds anytime that we would have a clear enough day to take a gander. Each time that one of us would look up, we noticed something. The north face of Long’s, a steeper slope that rose f