Intense high-altitude light can make solitude exhilarating instead of oppressive

Evidence

To-day I have been all alone in the park, as the men left to hunt elk after breakfast, after bringing in wood and water. … The sky is brilliant and the light intense, or else the solitude would be oppressive. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 222

Categorization

• APHORISMS: A compact piece of lived wisdom: brilliant light and physical activity are what keep solitary days from curdling into loneliness.
• FICTION: A woman left alone in an immense bright park while the men hunt could open a story about solitude, light, and the mood swings of a frontier camp.
• XREF: connects to: Rocky Mountain alpine scenery rendered sublime, silent beauty worth dwelling on — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 106; High-altitude solitude offers Victorian women a reprieve from human volatility. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 117