2000 Soap Box Archives

The Beautiful Rocky Mountains

Among the many beautiful sights that God created, few hold more fascination and allure for me than the Rocky Mountains. I had been through the Rockies many times and certainly appreciated their beauty but my appreciation was superficial compared to the love I have developed for the them since having the opportunity to spend some time there. Rugged, majestic and snowcapped they tower above our little valley splashed with aspens, and sprinkled with pines with a miniature river babbling it’s boulder strewn way along the bottom of the canyon. Grand home of elk, bear and eagle and summertime playground for the myriad of hummingbirds who gather the nectar from the multicolored carpet of wild flowers which cover the mountainside like a patchwork quilt. Sometimes the sky gets so blue that it almost doesn’t seem real and at night the stars hang low in the unpolluted sky and the moon is so bright you could almost read by it. When the big storms come and the North wind comes roaring down the canyon blowing the big flakes this way and that, sometimes it leaves two feet of snow behind giving us a white world, pristine and virgin. The icicles hang off the eaves of the house growing longer by the day. The evergreens gather snow and the boughs hang down under the weight, until the wind comes whistling down the canyon and they sway and shudder and shed their white blankets and stand tall and proud again. The citizens are a tough and hardy people, friendly and helpful who respect your privacy and expect you to respect their’s . There are many beautiful towns in the Rocky Mountains but my very favorite is Durango. Quaint and quality, busy and easygoing, with it’s architecture frozen in the 1800's, and it’s attitude as modern as tomorrow’s newspaper. A mile high village in the sky with a rich past and a richer future, nestled in the breathtaking high country called the Four Corners. When the spring warms up and the snowpack begins to melt the Animus and La Plata swell and rush along bearing kayaks and rafts and all manner of fun and folks. Will it always be this way? Will there always be a pristine view, an unpolluted starry night, and acres of virgin snow that has known neither tire track nor foot print? Or will the greedy hand of progress reach out and strangle the fragile way of life, scattering condominiums and crime, sidewalks and super highways, grit and grime and graft? I hope not, I pray not. I hope that future generations can step out of the world, as I did and find the peace, the serenity and the astounding beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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