Mountain Dogs I

I have seen theim swim across timberline lakes - cold, at 11,000 feet, just to explore the opposite bank.

Any rock is a platform - five feet high or a five hundred foot ledge, them to to climb and scan they country below.

Their excitement at fresh scent gives me a hint that something passed this way a little while ago - a deer, elk, mountain goat, or a bear.

When we rest on a hard trail, they sit close, and look up to me with affection.
Their eyes say how great this is, that life could hardly be better than up here, on this forest trail, with me. 

I know what they mean, what they express without words can be translated into love of freedom, enjoyment of health, life at peace, at its best,
high in the Colorado Mountains.