Quotable E.A.M.--Rocky Mtn Natl Park

The Quotable Enos A. Mills, from "Rocky Mountain National Park":

"Few experiences can put so much into one's life as to climb a mountain summit, and from among the crags and snow and clouds look down upon the beautiful world below. In ascending heights, one becomes an actor amid changing and inspiring scenes. The climber sees nature's best panoramas, great roof gardens, illimitable distances of sunshine and shadow, winding streams and sunny fields, mountain ranges, forests and lakes, the relief map of the world."

"Above timberline the trail winds its way across an alpine moorland that is very like a bit of Alaskan or Siberian tundra; wide spaces of broken granite, rocky crags, clumps of dwarfed arctic willow, and scores of varieties of brilliant flowers. Around these flower meadows on a clear, calm day you will hear the hum of bees and see the petal-winged butterflies sailing easily in the air."

"Going up into the sky on mountains, especially up Long's Peak, is not being carried there on flowery beds of ease! But the climb is like spending a day in a magnificent open-air gymnasium."

"Physical strength is, of course, important in mountain climbing, but those in the best physical condition are not always the best climbers. Wit counts for as much as strength, possibly more when it comes to going up into the sky and the mountain.

"Climbing the Peak before sunrise is dreamlike. The trail is a moon-toned etching. From Keyhole the snowy range shows in strange, dim outlines of gray and brown. At three in the morning the faint white light of day begins to be dimly diffused over all the landscape and a wonderful picture develops out of the negative night. The snowdrifts come out in high lights, and soon the whole world is in half-tone; the lakes and streams upon the plains shine like beaten silver and the cloud-sprinkled east changes through colour's wondrous robes in the fires of sunrise."

"To be among the crags while the storm cloud in unbroken sea submerges the lower world is a rare experience. The sun upon the lining of the sea, the treeless moors rising in its surface, the peaks thrust boldly through it, make a strong primeval scene."

"On the heights, one feels the occult eloquence of silence, the influence of music's magic spell; one's better nature comes uppermost... After standing on the summit of an eternal peak and feeling the inspiring influence of its pictured and silent story, one will return to duty and live amid life's changing scenes more kindly and cheerfully than before."

"Gold and glory count for little with those who commune with nature from the cliffs."

"When one climbs a high pinnacle on the vast cathedrals of this world, where Pan is 'forever piping hymns forever new', one seems to mingle with the universe, and the subtle and changing panoramas of all time; all the glad hopes and dreams he may have had before are his again, and all life is a tranquil dream."

"Forests of fragrant evergreen invite companionship, and more than a thousand varieties of brilliant wild flowers offer their beauty and their secrets to visitors who seek the stories of fairyland."

"The trail is the short Northwest passage to nature's wonderland. With all its curves and windings it is essentially poetic; it knows the beauty of flowing lines; it is ever in the midst of those things that charm and cheer. It seeks out all the beauty spots and, like a great character, finds only that which is the best."

"If it be true that one's best friend is that individual who can make us do our best then the trail is the most powerful of all silent friends. It kindly compels us to do our best without one word of advice. It teaches us as though it taught us not."

"The mountain trail is rich with the spice of life. Along its winding way is endless variety. It goes up into the heights and down into gorges. It greets the morning, is sometimes lost in shadows, oft-times is up near the stars or enveloped in clouds. Always it leads to some def-inite action, to some definite thought, to some happy result."

"The trail is the highway of the elect. It is a crooked pathway that makes all of its travelers sincere, and that keeps them all straight. After all, the trail is one of the finest threads that one can entwine into the fibres of one's being. It is the golden thread of all."

"The wilds have scenes and sounds which inspire. The marvelous moonlight, the splendid set of sun, the snowy forest aisles, the templed peaks, the boom, whirl, and wild roar of the storm, the chattering squirrel, and the water ouzel's ever-cheerful song have helped me to leave the low-vaulted past and to increase my love for this mysterious and beautiful world."

"Nature gives the nectar of the gods to those who leave the madding crowd and visit her alone. I see all her moods, all her changing scenes. Rambling the mountains by moonlight is an enchanting experience. In winter the peaks stand in soft white silence, the icy walls glow in tempered sheen, while on the snowy forest aisles are exquisite moon-toned etchings of the pines."

"A campfire in the wilds alone, or with a few friends whose faces are glowing with eager life and aglow with the firelight, is one of the most enchanting and fascinating factors in the fairyland of outdoors. It is not only the ro-mance of the trail—of the forest's silent places—but is more mystical than even the moon. It is the most intense spot along an intensifying highway. The blazing wood with ragged and changing flame, the rolls and wreaths of smoke, the shadow figures which dance against the cliff, are more entrancing, give far more fanciful dreams, than are ever released by fire from the poppy's pod."

"Watching the storms and calms of a campfire blaze brings strange fancies to the watcher's mind and gives him glimpses down the vague vistas of ancestral ages, and visions of fairylands he has not seen and shall not see."

"What is there in a campfire, or what can there be in ourselves, that the campfire awakens into mystical life, which hypnotizes and dominates the known self with unknown scenes and dual feelings? Is there some strange primeval faculty that was fathered by fire in the old, old time, and which sleeps except in its presence? Every child ought to believe in fairies, and on the wilderness trail, see a campfire burn."

"Nature guides interpret the out-of-doors. Live things mean so much more than stuffed animals and birds, butterflies mounted on pins, dried flowers, specimens put up in jars or displayed in cases. Guides are as different from museums as people are from mummies."

"Mother Nature is the oldest of teachers. She represents the power that is greater than man. From her treasure house, civilization has drawn food, clothing, shelter, steam, electricity—all the arts and sciences. Her lure carries man into the jungles, over mountain barriers, upward, outward, onward, always seeking, seeking, always gathering knowledge from the things about him, the things that are understood and the things that baffle and inspire him to greater effort."

"To be efficient a race must have health, must have an intelligent understanding of the conditions under which it lives, and a sympathetic appreciation of the needs in the lives of others. Health, education, and universal sympathy come through outdoor recreation— that outlet and inlet of life. Scenery and the elements are intimate associations and aids necessary for highest living."

"The spell of nature, the urge of the wilderness, appears to have been behind the building of every new state or nation."

"If we are to go on producing great men and women it will be necessary to preserve our wild places undisturbed. In these scenic parks the children, as they play, will hear and be led on by the hope-filled and inspiring language of nature. Outdoor life builds character."

"Nature annihilates barriers; the splendid forests, the strange sky moorlands, the mountain-high waterfalls welcome everyone. The democracy of parks thus will be a matchless unifying factor for the nation."

"Keeping close to nature will discourage prejudice and develop sympathy, without which liberty could not exist and live would not be worth while. A people with sympathy would have the supreme courage not to start war on others. Than this, nothing is more important. And this, too, is preparedness."

"The mingling of people in the poetic scenes of national parks inspires a love of native land—is a dream come true."

"Honour parks, peaks, and pines."

"Nature takes mind and body and puts them at their best. Here one comes to know himself and to be the self he would like to be. Nature is the lifesaver of the race; the great out-of-doors is the lifesaving station of the nation."

"To have and to hold national parks is in the highest sense promoting the general welfare. Nature will never betray the nation that keeps her wild gardens. Our debt to all the honoured dead, our duty to the worthy present, and our obligation to the glorious future are all nobly met and ourselves honoured in glorifying this earth with beautiful, inspiring parks."

"To ruin our scenic resources is to rob the future and to injure ourselves."

"Those who live pioneer lives are usually the most fortunate of people. They suffer from no dull existence. Each hour is full of progressive thought, and occasions which call for action accompanied by the charm of ex-ploration—action that makes their lives strong, sincere, and sweet. Their days are full of eagerness and repose, they work with happy hands. The lives of pioneers are rich with hope and their future has all the promise of spring. To be able to build a log cabin in the fresh, wild mountain slope and by its frontier fireplace to explore the fairyland of enchanting thought is indeed a blessing."

"At night the fields of space above appear thickly sown with stars. With no dark forests to absorb light, and with waterfalls, lakes, and snowfields to respond softly, the moon floods the heights with a deep though glareless illumination. Enough is concealed or subdued to leave vast and powerful impressionistic pictures, and many a scene is etched in moon-tone. During such nights the mountains loom large, impressive, and pervading in the deep silence, and eloquent is the limitless sweep of the wide and starry sky."

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