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Mountains On My Mind - Poems © Richard F. Fleck
Richard F. Fleck (Ph.D., University of New Mexico) is currently retired with a recent visiting professorship at the University of Bologna, Italy in 2005.
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 James Peak by Way of St. Mary's Glacier
We hop over stones and rocks till we arrive at the base of Saint Mary’s Glacier looming above dark waters of a tarn lined with sweet-smelling spruce where we ascend the trail to the glacier’s edge to take out our poles and traverse the soft snow over ice back and forth as we enjoy the squeaking marmots amid tundra blossoms all along the sides.  A Botanic Surprise in the Mosquito Range
Between Mount Cameron and Lincoln On a north-facing slope just below Fourteen thousand feet, I am surprised To discover a charming piece of tundra Reminding me of dusty, deserty prairie Far below where cactus and yucca grow. But up here I stop to admire an entire Colony of succulent dwarf mulleins with Delicate pinkish blossoms...  Betwixt and Between Storms on Bierstadt
Descending from the summit encircled by lightning storms, we find a protective hollow in the rocks far above treeline to have a breadless lunch of thick slices of zucchini sandwiching thinner slices of cheese and salami put together in an assembly line of very hungry climbers who listen with concern to the booms of thunder all around.  Up Sundance Peak
We see them up there—several herds of tundra elk, and rising above them, Sundance Peak. We cannot resist leaving our car to hop from rock to rock across the flowerful terrain and almost merge with these slow-moving grazers who pay no mind to us as we hoof along a ridge higher than they, where we can admire the Mummy Range stretching north...  Up Over Flattop
We three trek the trail above Bear Lake winding through twisted limber pine under cobalt-blue skies crowning Hallett’s Peak that flanks crinkled-white Tyndall Glacier stretching to the horizon’s rim where tundra sunflowers flutter in alpine breezes bringing to mind Monet’s paintings, but alive with rosy finches and tiny squeaking pikas dashing between dark rocks and gleaming white snow.  Heavy Spirited on Shadow Mountain
On that morning, bright and clear, bright and clear was my mind. My mind took in Shadow Mountain; Shadow Mountain rose above a lake, a lake that reflected dense forests. Dense forests coated the rising hill. The rising hill had a winding trail. The winding trail was my objective; my objective seemed so clear that day. that day, alas, proved to be challenging, challenging me beyond my spirit's core. My spirits core seemed so numbed, So numbed that I could not begin. Begin I tried but sat right down, sat right down on the ground below. The ground below held me captive.  Popcorn Snow on Greys Peak
Constant bands of clouds race across the sky as we climb the trail above the trees toward misty Greys Peak early in the morning. We stop to admire clusters of sunflowers bobbing in the wind and listen to the whistle pigs’ piercing calls echoing from ledge to ledge as we switch back and forth just beneath the summit under patches of blue between the racing clouds.  Goat High on Torreys Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Just one last burst of energy before I reach my climbing buddies who stand on the summit under a brilliant blue dome of sky where they chat with a dozen shaggy white mountain goats offering sincere gratitude to the goats for sharing their rugged alpine home.  High Noon on Sneffels
Early morning couldn’t have been clearer with only thin clouds in the sky as we climb up a thin and winding trail to see alpine images glimmer on a third blue lake, and, as we gain views of Yankee Boy Basin, carpeted with flowers like a giant Monet painting, we see our challenge of a rocky scramble straight up to a tundra ledge dotted with fellow climbers an hour ahead. -sm.jpg) Sliding Down Clark Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Late in May I had to have some mountain relief and packed my pup tent and backpack with some food, then headed up to Cameron Pass overlooking Poudre Canyon, and after a chilly night’s sleep under cold stars where I could hear pumping blood coursing through my veins, I arose and perked some coffee and ate a bowl of granola...  A Summer Snowstorm on Mount Princeton
By Richard F. Fleck - We gingerly stepped across the tundra in a freezing rain that iced our trail high on Mount Princeton that made each rock a wobbly challenge in strong winds that flared out our ponchos forcing us to become struggling bats when at last we found a cave for shelter from rain changed to snow, and after a brief respite from the storm, we clambered up to 13,000 feet barely keeping our balance, and then some descending climbers shouted “don’t even try it!"  Ptarmigans of Tabeguache
By Richard F. Fleck - We stand atop the first green tundra ridge on our way to the summit of Mount Tabeguache, but we must pause to watch a bevy of alpine ptarmigans walking along nonchalantly with plumage about to change for winter having white bellies and spotted brown-feathered backs and nervous little heads with beady eyes quite aware of us  A Strange Occurrence on Mount Zirkel
By Richard F. Fleck - As close to Wyoming as could be, I rambled through the Park Range forests at the base of Mount Zirkel and began to climb some rocky ledges until the pines began to thin and I paused to stare into the limitless rolling plains of the big North Park fringed with snowy Never Summer peaks to the cloudy east.  Hagues Peak - A Case of Altitude Sickness
By Richard F. Fleck - Only twice in fifty years have I come down with altitude sickness, once in the Wind Rivers and once here on the flanks of Hagues Peak A bit after we peered far down to Crystal Lake and a little before our final scramble up the last three hundred feet. Perhaps I hadn’t eaten quite enough at breakfast or perhaps it was coming across a dead Clark’s Nutcracker flat on a rock, but my head began to pound ...  A Snowy Night in Northern Montana
By Richard F. Fleck - On a very snowy night camped at MacDonald Lake, we shiver in our sagging tent as winds snap aspen branches overhead and we wonder just why we chose early June and not July to camp in Glacier Park where early summer is nothing more than a late-winter.  Three Front Range Haiku
By Richard F. Fleck - Twin Sisters - Through golden aspen We climb to top to see high Gray block of Longs Peak. Squaw Peak - Winding past lodgepoles, We quickly ascend loose slabs To summit in space. Devil’s Head - We slip on dark ice In slanting woods until steps Take us up highest ridge.  View from Togwotee Pass
By Richard F. Fleck - There you stand and stare but your mind cannot even start to decipher what raw vision reveals. Huge slabs of granite protrude like fingers poking the sky through layers of snow so high in space, so high above the sagebrush and glacial kettle holes and larger blue lakes sparkling in sun reflecting upside- down images giving your mind twice as much to absorb.  Snowy Range Sundown
By Richard F. Fleck - Nothing better than to be Walking a trail above the trees And looking out across the way To distant mountains and other Northern snow-patched peaks At the end of the day When an orange-gold sun Sinks beneath the tundra  A Medicine Bow Peak Ritual
By Richard F. Fleck - Each Labor Day for ten years straight my family and I would climb to the sky from Lewis Lake following a winding trail through patches of willows hiding gurgling streams with clear and icy water feeding roots of marsh marigolds and patches of bright and shining glacier lilies.  Heavy Summer Snow Atop the San Francisco Peaks
By Richard F. Fleck - Two German climbers signed out on the log writing that the snow was too deep and they finally had to turn around. “But that was yesterday,” remarked one of my friends as we shouldered our packs hit the trail where we rapidly gained a view of the entire Snow Bowl with lesser crests of the ancient volcano comprising the sacred San Francisco Peaks that rose forever skyward in glistening whiteness.  Deep Down the Kaibab Trail
By Richard F. Fleck - Deep within the spruce and fir, I make my camp along the North Rim, but before I eat my supper, I walk over to the nighttime edge of the Grand Canyon to peer three or four thousand feet down to see a tiny flickering campfire way below that will lure me down very early the next day from a chilly forty degrees into heat of mid-summer and then some— from Canadian forest to Mexican desert with shoulder-high prickly pears and Spanish bayonets  Arizona High
By Richard F. Fleck - Thin gray cirrus clouds streak the sky as we amble through a meadow of purple lupine and black-eyed susans with dark and pyramidic Humphreys Peak rising upward another 3000 feet. We enter sweet pine forest floors springing forth with mushrooms of every shape and color, white columbines and purple penstemon.  Atop Kings Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Once on the summit of King’s Peak, highest in Utah, we notice a scarcity of flowers but a richness in diversity of rocks from granites to shales to quartzites and sandstones, all of reddish-brown hue.  Haystack Ramble
By Richard F. Fleck - From Geyser Pass through the woods, we emerge into a bright green meadow covered with all sorts of alpine flowers high in the La Sal Mountains of Utah. We rest just beneath the rocky slabs of Haystack Peak and search the tundra for rayless daisies that are known to grow  A Mellethin Sunrise
By Richard F. Fleck - I crawl out of my sleeping bag at Geyser Pass high in the La Sals just before sunrise to walk out into the meadow and look across at Mellenthin Mountain, dark and gray, but with a tinge of light near its summit, and as the sun rises, the mountain’s north face turns into a fancy’s show box with |
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 Grandmother Spider Mountain
By Richard F. Fleck - Early in the morning we walk upwards through a slanted forest of aspen and fir and take delight in seeing a blue bird flutter in open meadows quite soft underfoot. We approach grassy hummocks reminding me of ever-so-green Ireland along the Irish Sea.  A Close Encounter in the Manzanos
By Richard F. Fleck - The sky remains cobalt blue and the pines barely whisper as I amble along the crest of the Manzanos overlooking Albuquerque’s tiny city streets, but I suddenly stop in my tracks when I almost stumble across a crude grave of cottonwood branches twisted into a circle  Turning Around on the Chisos Mountain Trail
By Richard F. Fleck - Through berried junipers and dry Scrub oak, we amble along a steadily Upward trail toward much higher Pinnacles with gliding ravens hoarsely Squawking like spirits of the mountains Overlooking agave, prickly pear and Yucca about to bloom, and from the Branches of pinon pines comes a Sprite-liken cheeping of white-breasted Nuthatches as volcanic Casa Grande Darkens in an approaching storm.  Ocotillo Sundown
By Richard F. Fleck - We stand in the desert and stare at the Chisos Mountains reddening in silence, each little rocky crag and slit given emphasis with nearby prickly pears brilliantly lit, but perhaps the most striking thing proves to be the way the setting sun illuminates spiked ocotillo plants with tiny red buds looking much like spirits emerging from thorny shells silhouetted by such ghostly mountains.  Electric Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - I cannot resist staring at distant Electric Peak from the top of Mount Washburn as I am drawn to its dazzling white snowfields attracting stands of clouds no doubt the build-up of a summer thunderstorm such as the one Henry Gannett felt in 1872 when his entire body painfully tingled  Spider Rock
By Richard F. Fleck - With what intensity the Anasazi must have had when they looked straight up from their ancient dwellings astride the base of Spider Rock rising eight hundred feet in massive redness above the valley floor in the midst of Canyon de Chelly.  Meditations at 10,000 feet
By Richard F. Fleck - I slowly amble toward the Beartooth Range looming above ten thousand feet and gaze at gray gigantic granitic uplifts carved with glaciated and snowy cirques, when I begin to feel a kind of syncline elevating my mind ever upwards to the highest summit bearing the name of Granite Peak that rises to 12,799 feet  Guadalupe Peak - High Above the Mesquite
By Richard F. Fleck - Our trail ascends the way past waxy leaves of Madrone trees with smooth and reddish trunks and on up past some blooming cholla in a cold March wind, and higher toward a limestone ledge washed with desert varnish looming above a pinon forest lending voice to the constant gusty winds of western Texas.  Keeping Up With Mini While Climbing Mount Wheeler
By Richard F. Fleck - We camped in Taos Valley on a cold September night while Mini, my blond cocker spaniel, danced around the tent as we tried to get some needed sleep before our tiring climb of Wheeler Peak.  Watermelon Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - On a pleasantly warm February day down Albuquerque way where plum blossoms scent the air, I look through my window at Sandia Crest sprinkled with a fresh morning layer of sugar snow and I know I must arise and go to the mountain's edge where prickly pear cactus and yuccas grow.  Specimen Mountain
By Richard F. Fleck - In my ranger days, it was my duty to lead a group of ten or twelve straight up the slopes of volcanic Specimen Mountain above Milner Pass.  Laramie Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - Bouncing along in a jeep toward distant Laramie Peak on the high plains of Wyoming, I think I must be some sort of charging bison stampeded by my own desire to climb a mountain of such a perfect pyramid shape standing so purple on the horizon.  A Winter's Climb of Mount Chapin
By Richard F. Fleck - In the summer Mount Chapin isn't much of a climb being only over twelve thousand feet, but in the winter, it's quite another matter with winds so fierce that tree-line pines are given a screeching voice ...  The Brocken Spectre atop Longs Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - We all look up at an eclipsing moon high in the sky as we approach the dark North Face in very crisp air of three a.m. Way toward Wyoming, streaks of Northern Lights shimmer while we inch our way to the summit over icy granite.  Brocken Spectre Atop Mount Fuji
By Richard F. Fleck - At sunrise we push onward above the ninth station toward the summit as layers of cloud fill the tea-leaved valley floor while a ball of sun slowly peeks over the Pacific rim illuminating bright red Buddhist torii until we reach the very top  Herded by Sheep off Jicarita Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - We rested at Santa Barbara Pass and proceeded up a faint little path toward the high, round summit of Jicarita Peak with haunting views into the very streets of Taos and mountains far beyond until we sensed the presence of two bighorn sheep with spiraling horns ...  Rock-holed Sky of Earthborn Spirits
By Richard F. Fleck - Circumnavigating Vedauwoo where calls of ravens echo, I look up at towering rocks with holes exposing azure sky in a strong sun yet with a tinge of autumn as quaking aspen trees tremble with each breeze that combs through fields of green sage  Roped to the Sky
Richard F. Fleck - Massive bear-clawed columns rise into the sky peppered with roped climbers working their way ever upward some eight hundred feet above lodgepole pines laced with prayer flags fluttering in a spirit wind.  Lunar Eclipse on Mount Washburn
By Richard F. Fleck - On the flanks of Mount Washburn, high above most of Yellowstone, we watch an eclipse of the moon as it slowly darkens to brown except for one glaring rim in the chilly air of five a.m.  Lost on Mount Ida
By Richard F. Fleck - It seems to come from nowhere, or so I think, as I gain the alpine tundra high. Thrashing lightning and rolling thunder turn the sky into rockets and mortars. No longer can I enjoy the forget-me-nots and Parry primroses combed with wind. All Poems © 2009 Richard F. Fleck
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