Delicate First Morning — Metal

I hiked to the viewpoint across from Delicate Arch on New Year's Day, arriving in the dark with the cold biting through every layer. Snow filled the canyons below and the silence was total. Then the sky broke open — pinks and oranges sweeping across the clouds while a thin band of gold held the horizon. Delicate Arch stood small on the far left, almost humble against the scale of the panoramic, while the sandstone ridge stretched wide with its row of hoodoos standing like witnesses to the turning of the year. There's something about a cold, harsh morning that strips everything down to what matters. And what mattered that morning was the light — arriving on time, as it always does, reminding you that difficult beginnings are still beautiful.