Planetary Stories Project

"To Act Globally, Think Locally – Through Stories"

Black Earth Institute

Place: Hood River, OR, USA

Hood River
By Anne Key

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In the village of Hood River, Oregon, I am nestled between the peaks of Pahto and Wy-East, more commonly known as Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood respectively. Pahto rises to the north, with a rounded peak. Wy-East towers in the south, sharp craggy peak pointing skywards. When the clouds roll in, it is as if I live in a lowland plain, flat and featureless. Then the sun breaks through, and the mountains appear, a magician’s grand illusion.

Throughout October and November each year, I watch the daily progression of the snow-line down the mountain. A sudden storm will leave them white from top to bottom, then a little thaw exposes the trees and rocks at the base. Later a lasting storm will arrive, and they are white for months.

In the late spring and summer I watch the reverse – the snow line creeping upwards, bit by bit. They never immodestly expose their peaks, but their hemlines rise with the temperature.

These mountains hold me, ground me, their peaks marking north and south. Immovable and volatile, puffs of sulfur remind me that they are alive, their breaths of fire, their lungs heaving. I lay between the two peaks, secure and vulnerable with my head on their chest, the heartbeat of this land the rhythm of my dreams.