Mountain dawns mirror inverted peaks in still alpine lakes
Evidence
This is surely one of the most entrancing spots on earth. Oh, that I could paint with pen or brush! From my bed I look on Mirror Lake, and with the very earliest dawn, when objects are not discernible, it lies there absolutely still, a purplish lead color. Then suddenly into its mirror flash inverted peaks, at first a bright orange, then changing into red, making the dawn darker all round. This is a new sight, each morning new. Then the peaks fade, and when morning is no longer “spread upon the mountains,” the pines are mirrored in my lake almost as solid objects, and the glory steals downwards, and a red flush warms the clear atmosphere of the park, and the hoar-frost sparkles and the crested blue-jays step forth daintily on the jewelled grass. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 299
Categorization
- DEFINE: Her two ‘daily miracles’ — blazing peaks in the dark Mirror Lake at morning, layered afterglow at evening — are a fine framework for describing alpine light.
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