2009-07-18: The roadside signs indicated that US Route 16A had the lowest grade and was the safest route to Yellowstone. I did not care much about that, but subsequent signs informed me that it was the most scenic and shortest path. Traveling along this highway, I came into Bighorn National Forest, and I was stunned. This was my first time traveling on a serious mountain road. Slopes descending hundreds of feet and winding turns were a bit of a thrill, but it was the spectacular scenery that had me awestruck.
This is where things started to get big. It was no longer about seeking out the interesting vistas; they were now everywhere. Beyond most every curve along the mountain road, a new view of an immense landscape loomed ahead. I began to have difficulty portraying the size of these things with my camera. Signs indicated the age and name of various rock formations, some of which were billions of years old. Try to imagine just one hundred thousand years. Imagine what humanity could accomplish in that time - or what we were doing that long ago. Multiply that by ten thousand. It is mind blowing, at least to me. You can stop and touch those very rocks, thus symbolically bridging the eons, but while doing so, take a moment to realize that all of human history is meaningless on such vast scales.
"Pulvis et umbra sumus." - "We are but dust and shadow." Horace, Odes, Book IV, Ode VII, Line 16
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