A-1 Mountain
A-1 Mountain, this is my place. This is my place that keeps the world sane. This is where I can separate the stress of responsibility from the life I want to live, the life of a mountain man.
This is one of my favorite places because it is so close to the city. It is nothing to be out in the woods at sunrise and be to work on time from here. Listening to elk bugle, watching antelope chase one another, stumbling across herds of deer, it scares me to think how close the metropolis of Flagstaff is.
When I was 16 I stumbled across A-1 Mountain by accident. I was out exploring for nothing unparticular. Unknowingly at the time this land became part of who I am today. A-1 Mountain let me he a kid and not get in trouble for it. Keg bon fires, midnight dates, and crazy escapades went unnoticed. The city of Flagstaff was better off for it to. But that's only a small part of the picture.
There's no one place at A-1 Mountain that catches my attention. It's the area as a whole. It has a diverse habitat of large meadows to thick forests, the perfect ingredients for wildlife. The wildlife is what really attracts me. I’ve spent uncountable hours at A-1 Mountain hunting. It's always been a serious hunt but not of the stereotypical kind. This place put me on the trail of discovery. Early mornings watching sunrise, with days full of unforeseen events, and late evenings getting home to a cold supper. This was my life. This is a place that aloud me to be me without me knowing it. I learned about life watching buck mule deer do battle, coyotes hunting fawn deer, and cow elk nursing their calves. I'll always remember the opening morning of archery deer season years back when I saw 32 bucks and I didn't have my bow. And the next day when a yearling buck stopped 5 feet away not able to decide what I was finally walking away in frustration. I have a mountain of these stories. These stories tell part of the larger story of who I am.
A-1 Mountain is no wilderness area by today's standards. But that matters little. It is a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of city life. This place is special to me because of the time I've spent tromping through its forests. To the casual observer it's probably just an overgrown piece of woodlands. But that's fine with me. In fact that's what I'd prefer. Ideally I'd have this place to myself. I find it ironic that I’m writing this for anyone to read. But A-1 Mountain is a public place. I've never had the place to myself. I'd just assume a few people new about the area and felt the same way I do about its beauty. A-1 Mountain needs its people now to protect it. The sprawl of Flagstaff will be a constant threat. Something people will have to protect A-1 Mountain from.