My favorite way to experience a serene landscape is to experience it in the presence of loved ones alone.

The best way to ensure that is to get up prior to first light. Relief washes over me when I see that ours is the first car in the parking lot of the trailhead.

We’re on Dawn Patrol. Donning headlamps, we set out into the dark forest, shedding layers as our heart rate matches the elevation gain on the climb.

The first outcropping appears on a side trail. We detour to it and are met with a lake of inversion set in above the gorge below.

A family of birds pierces out of the fog and into the horizon. The day is a victory before the sun rises.

Acrylic

24” x 36”

Gold and black floater frame included