Once this image loads, click on the panorama and drag the mouse to move the panorama right or left. Also, check out the Scrolling Panorama and the Zoomable Panorama of this view. Both Meg and I had climbed up to the ridge above the Branham Lakes the evening before, and since the weather looked especially nice for the next morning, I decided to go back up, and explore further than we had gone before. Since I really enjoy climbing, I continued across the one ridge we'd been on, and headed up the nearest peak. The summit ridge opened up views I could have only imagined. There were lakes and ponds in almost every valley, and various mountain ranges extended off in every direction on the horizon as far as I could see. The alpine flowers covering the ridge at my feet were shining in the sun in every color of the rainbow... There are few places I go where I can find the same feelings of freedom of spirit that I get when I'm climbing above timberline in the mountains. And to be in the beauty of the alpine terrain of the western mountains when the flowers are all blooming, helps evoke a spiritual connection with everything that is alive. Special places and moments like these help give more meaning to life - and how important it is to have wild places like this to help maintain both our connection with the natural world and our bonds with all life on Earth.