Way Too Wicked Peak and the Return of Mountain Goat

Mountain Goat and Draft Horse were really nothing alike. In fact, they were opposites. Mountain Goat was teeny tiny; Draft Horse was large and lumpy. Mountain Goat was endlessly energetic; Draft Horse was partial to naps. Mountain Goat danced and pranced; Draft Horse bumbled and stumbled. Mountain Goat was ALWAYS changing her mind; Draft Horse was ALWAYS saying "Are you SURE that's a good idea, Mountain Goat?" To which Mountain Goat would ALWAYS respond "Oh Draft. Horse, You're so SENSIBLE!"  

Shooting Star

"I'm back! " Mountain Goat's excited face peered in the glass door of Whare Manu, the alpine abode of Draft Horse and MacScramble. She flitted into the living room in a flurry and a flap. It was late. Draft Horse and MacScramble had expected her much earlier but, as usual, Mountain Goat's plans had changed at the very last minute. Still, they were happy to see her and she them. After all, there were adventures awaiting during her short sojourn. Mountain Goat had pined for the pointy peaks of the Great Snowy Mountains while living in the lowlands of Tenny-See. "What should we climb? When can we go?" she enquired excitedly, breathlessly bouncing up and down. Mountain Goat yawned. "It's past my bedtime, let's think about it tomorrow". "Oh Draft Horse, you are so SENSIBLE!" replied Mountain Goat.

Sierra Columbine

A few days later, after a steep scramble in which Mountain Goat gamboled gracefully up the grippy granite that Draft Horse sought to circumvent, and in which Naughty Limber Pine flipped a phone right out of Draft Horse's pocket, they found themselves perched on another Perfect Pointy Peak (PPP).

Wendy scrambles up Hurd Peak from the end of Long Lake

Atop (well almost) Hurd Peak

There, they eyed up an even taller target that Mountain Goat clamored to climb the next day (Draft Horse declined due to desperately needing a nap). Mountain Goat enthused "Oh, how I long to loll and lounge on that lofty pinnacle and ponder the ways of the world!" Draft Horse asked "Are you SURE that's a good idea, Mountain Goat? I think you'd be best bounding back down by 1 PM at the VERY latest. It's many miles down and down and down and Cumulus Cloud may be creeping about. Besides dark descends early these days." "Oh Draft Horse, you are so SENSIBLE!" replied Mountain Goat.

Wendy's next target is Mount Agassiz, centre right on the skyline above the large lake

"I'm back!" Mountain Goat's fatigued face peered in the glass door of Whare Manu the next evening. She stumbled into the living room in a fumble of activity. It was late. Draft Horse and MacScramble had expected her much earlier but as usual Mountain Goat's plans had changed at the very last minute. "I am so, so, so sapped" sighed Mountain Goat, her bouncing now a slouchy slump. "What happened?" enquired Draft Horse. "Well, I lolled and lounged on that lofty pinnacle pondering the ways of the world", replied Mountain Goat. " For how long?" asked Draft Horse.  "Oh, a good two and a half hours. I would've lingered longer but at 2:30PM Cumulus Cloud started to rumble and grumble so I decided to go down and down and down the many miles. I ran in the rain to reach the end as darkness descended". Draft Horse gave her a teensy bit of an exasperated look and humphed a trifle huffily, "Well, there you go! Were you SURE that was a good idea, Mountain Goat?". "Oh Draft Horse, you are so SENSIBLE!" replied Mountain Goat. 

Wendy lounging and lolling on Mount Agassiz, pondering the ways of the world

Pallisades from Mount Agassiz

The next week, they were at it again, winding and weaving their way under cerulean skies up, up, up towards the jaggy backbone of Stegosaurus Ridge, the very spine of the Great Snowy Mountains, where awaited another PPP.  

Up and up and up

As they climbed on that frozen, frosty morn, they saw a few overachiever leaves that were gamely turning gold despite the apparent antipathy of all the other leaves (Draft Horse and Mountain Goat agreed with the other leaves;  surely it could not already be autumn?). 

 

They passed a JAGGL (Just Another Stunning Sierra Lake) and then a YAGL (Yet Another Gorgeous Lake). Or was it a YAGL and then a JAGGL? It was hard to keep track.  

A generic JAGGL. Or perhaps a YAGL.

They paused on pinnacles on separate sides of a chasm, Mountain Goat quite at home on Fatal Fall Rock and Draft Horse woefully wobbly on Knocking Knees Boulder. Mountain Goat waved to Draft Horse but when Draft Horse tried to wave back, she only wobbled more! 

Wendy (top) on Fatal Fall Rock waving to Dallas (bottom) on Knocking Knees Boulder

Eventually, after many hours, they reached the craggy col leading to Stegosaurus Ridge near the PPP. But...alas! alack! The col was not craggy! It was slick with steep, slippery snow! And there was no way around it! Draft Horse scrutinized this sad sight in dreadful dismay. She was lumbering and lurching, stumbling and bumbling. Steep, slick, slippery snow was too much for a Draft Horse!  "Are you SURE that's a good idea, Mountain Goat?" she asked.

Lamarck Col very snowy on the centre ridgeline. Intended summit was Mount Lamarck on the right

Frozen streams and spectacularly suncapped snow up at almost 13,000ft

Draft Horse looked around thoughtfully and spied a snow-free slope leading up to a separate section of Stegosaurus Ridge and to a slightly lower but in no way less perfect PPP. "Mountain Goat, how about this PPP? I think it would be a stupendous and staggering summit. And there is no steep, slick, and slippery snow to slow my limp legs. Would it be an acceptable alternative?" Mountain Goat appeared pensive and pondering.  "Oh, all right.... Draft Horse, you're so SENSIBLE!" she replied. 

The PPP loomed loftily above. "It looks wicked!" exclaimed Mountain Goat. "Way too wicked",  added Draft Horse. And so it was that the slightly lower but in no way less perfect PPP received its name, Way Too Wicked Peak (and a much better name it was too than the one on the map, a tremendously tedious "Peak 13175"). They started up. The rocky and blocky talus was firm and friendly, inviting rambling and scrambling.  Draft Horse approved most emphatically. "I rate this talus a solid A-. In fact, it may even reach the superb status of Dallas Talus!"

Grade A "Dallas Talus" on the way up to the ridge

They climbed and clambered up, huffing and puffing in the thin air, and joyfully jaunting along the wriggly ridge towards Way Too Wicked Peak. 

At one point, Mountain Goat took the high road, skipping along the spindly spine of the wriggly ridge in a most mountain-goaty manner. "Are you SURE that's a good idea, Mountain Goat?" Draft Horse instead slipped and tripped across the safe and secure and steady low road below in the most draft-horsey manner. When their paths met once again at precisely the same point in time, they looked at each other and laughed. "Oh Draft Horse,  you're so SENSIBLE! giggled Mountain Goat. 

On the summit at last! Wendy (L) and Dallas (R)

On the summit at last, it was lunchtime. Draft Horse produced a container of sumptuous sandwiches. Mountain Goat gasped. "What in the world is worrying you?" enquired Draft Horse. Mountain Goat wrung her hands in righteous indignation. "You have employed a seasonally inappropriate container! It is for Christmas and is covered with candy canes and holly and jolly drawings. But it is still September! And, what's more," she added with a rasp of realization, "you are almost entirely attired in Christmas colours!!"  Draft Horse looked down. So she was. She twanged out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the rubber band holding the lid on the container. 

There were guffaws and giggles as they gazed over the vast vista. There was a prodigious panorama of pointy peaks.  JAGGLs and YAGLs were nestled far below prickly Porcupine Ridge. It was sensational and sublime. 

Mounts Mendel and Darwin of the Evolution Range. Porcupine Ridge is the famed Evolution Traverse

"I would love to lounge and loll longer and ponder the ways of the world", commented Draft Horse. At that moment,  a wild and wily wind whipped around Way Too Wicked Peak. Fingers and noses froze. "Are you SURE that's a good idea, Draft Horse?", asked Mountain Goat, "We must make a move. Time is a tickin'. I do not need to run in the rain to reach the end before dark descends. My limp legs would likely lapse! Let's bounce and bound down and down and down and if there's time, let's loll and lounge at the lake under the Sierra Sun and cerulean skies instead." "Oh Mountain Goat, you're so SENSIBLE!" replied Draft Horse.

And down they darted, two firm friends, one lithe and light-footed and the other shambling and shuffling, the westering sun warming their completely contrasting carcasses.

Lounging and lolling at a lower JAGGL, Lower Lamarck Lake