Indian Summer

One of the things I love about this blog is the occasion to learn and share new things, so this time it’s about Indian summer.

The last week has been wonderful, quite cool but crisp with great visibility in the mountains. I was able to hike and climb, and one of the climbs was called “Indian Summer” as well (there are at least three climbs with this name where I live).

This climb was in the beginning of a valley. The rock was dry and adherent, and the colors magnificent. Larches are changing to gold, blueberry bushes are going red and grass is turning yellow, with bits of brilliant white snow in the shaded side of the valley. The next day we climbed in another valley, with a different set of colors mixed in with evergreens and bushes with red berries. Finally on a third day I did a hike that’s been on my list, since I can see this summit from outside of my window. It’s quite high and the snow on the southern slopes hadn’t stuck from the last period of precipitation, so it was probably the last occasion for me to hike up there this year.

So Indian summers are periods of calm, good weather in autumn, usually after a first frost. Other countries have names for this, too, according to Wikipedia. One I quite like “Altweibersommer” (“old women’s summer”) which fits me quite well at the moment! (To anyone, say, seventy and over, they tell me that I’m not old. To my teenage students, however, I am ancient. I accept their view of me!)

All I know is that it’s beautiful, and that I’m so very happy to be enjoying it.