While hiking the Mt. Adams Highline Trail in Washington state, we enjoyed several golden late summer days. Late the third day, thunderheads built up and shrouded the peak. As we went to bed, the mist took on this eerie cobalt blue glow, as if the fog was lit from within. Later, torrents of rain accompanied an hour-long crackling thunderstorm that kept us coping with leaking tent seams. This photograph has a poignant quality to me. It shows the fragility of human life in a world of elemental forces.

Lee Rentz