Dan and I backpacked to high alpine Lake Caroline, an extremely steep hike. The next day we hiked higher to aptly-named Windy Pass. Spectacular mountain views were masked by clouds. We were walking in a cloud.

I want to go back to Windy Pass on a clear day.

On the third day, we descended extremely steep switchbacks on a mountainside that was denuded by a massive wildfire. High winds were howling. Bare white tree trunks moaned like pipe organs in different registers, high and low:

"WHOOO... Hoooo..ooooo."

To me, it sounded like the burned trees were moaning, keening and howling in the wind. I have heard this before with a few bare tree trunks. Never so loudly. It was incredible.

We quickened our step and didn't tarry because high winds blow down dead trees. It was so steep, I sat down and slid around switchbacks in loose rocks and dirt.

Reminds me of how sailboat shrouds moan in the wind when anchored. Grew up on a lake in Michigan with sailboats.