The comfort of the sublime

 I definitely have a lot to learn about the flora of the Northern Rockies, but still haven't looked anything up, since leaving. I took a hike from the campground about 8 miles up toward Cobalt Lake, and marveled at everything. I've got the day that the park opens the lottery for backcountry camping permits on my Google Calendar, next March. All I have to do is go straight north and I'm there. 

 Must have been an incredible microburst to twist this tree. 

 There was a family of beavers in this grimpen, but they were shy. 

 Looks like high winds come through and often target a single tree. Eff you, tree. 

 A bunch of pics from the hike. I'll look up the botany at some point, and add captions, maybe. 

 It was cool to see Sedum lanceolatum in habitat

 The one iconic plant that I do know is Bear-Grass, which also goes by a lot of other common names. Xerophylum tenax. 

Heading back to the campground through one of the many meadows along the trail. The day continued to unfold with a strong sense of freedom, that everything was well, and would be well. I'll recall Glacier as a place that somehow assisted me in at least temporarily accepting everything in my life for what it is. It's mysterious how these things happen, but I do know that my spiritual and emotional states often respond to the healing of the sublime. Anything vast is reassuring to me. It may seem counterintuitive that being made to feel tiny in the midst of transcendent beauty out of human proportion would be comforting. But it does work that way for me.