Even sublime mountain scenery becomes monotonous to a traveler who rides through it daily.

Evidence

I must explain that every mile I have traveled since leaving Colorado Springs has taken me farther and higher into the mountains. That afternoon I rode through lawnlike upland parks, with the great snow mass of Pike’s Peak behind, and in front mountains bathed in rich atmospheric coloring of blue and violet, all very fine, but threatening to become monotonous, when the wagon road turned abruptly to the left, and crossed a broad, swift, mountain river, the head-waters of the Platte. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 182

Categorization

• FICTION: A narrator so inured to grandeur that ‘lawnlike upland parks’ under Pike’s Peak strike her as repetitive is a characterization device worth stealing: beauty measured against fatigue.
• SEED: An essay on beauty fatigue — what happens to awe when you move through it at horse pace for weeks.
• XREF: connects to: Deep mountain gorges produce dread rather than comfort in solitary travelers. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 199; Extreme altitude beauty makes leaving a place feel impossible. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 235

Broader Connections

• Deep mountain gorges produce dread rather than comfort in solitary travelers. #complicates (0.90) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 199
• Extreme altitude beauty makes leaving a place feel impossible. #complicates (0.85) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 235