Rocky Mountain High

My An Arkie's Faith column from the March 1, 2023, issue of The Polk County Pulse.

In the spring of 1981, my wife and I and our 22-month-old daughter made the 900-mile trip from Loveland, Colorado, to Mena, Arkansas, in our red, white, and blue 1967 Toyota Stout pickup with our Shetland Sheepdog curled up on the floor under my wife's feet. As we drove through heavy rain most of the way, water trickled down behind the dash and pooled on the floor where our dog lay. After a miserable two-day trip, we finally arrived in Arkansas.

Our lives had changed dramatically in the previous six weeks. After visiting my family in Mena in February, we encountered a blizzard as we drove back to Colorado. When we arrived home, I asked my wife, "What do you think about moving to Arkansas?" "Well, I suppose, if we can sell our house," she answered, feeling that was a safe answer. Within two weeks, we sold our house, and six weeks later, we were pulling into the driveway of our new home on Karen Drive.

Even though I was excited to start a new life in Mena, I missed the mountains in Colorado. When we lived in Loveland, our favorite place to spend time was Rocky Mountain National Park. We would visit the park at least twice a month. Some of my favorite memories are of the beauty and majesty of the Rocky Mountains. 

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the highest national parks in the U.S., with elevations over 14,000 feet. Sixty mountain peaks over 12,000 feet tall result in breathtaking scenery. The park includes broad glacier-carved valleys and gorges, numerous alpine lakes, and plunging streams along with the mountain peaks. I loved the meadows and rolling moraines with their views of the peaks. 

The spectacular grandeur of the Rocky Mountains gives me a feeling of awe and wonder that John Denver described this way. "Now he walks in quiet solitude, the forest and the streams, seeking grace in every step he takes. His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand the serenity of a clear blue mountain lake and the Colorado Rocky Mountain high." The song Rocky Mountain High by John Denver became a hit worldwide, and in 2007 it was officially recognized as a state song of Colorado.

An exceptionally awe-inspiring night in Colorado inspired the song. That night, John witnessed a Perseid meteor shower while camping with friends at Williams Lake. The singer wrote about the experience in his autobiography. "I remember, almost to the moment, when that song started to take shape in my head. We were working on the next album, and it was to be called Mother Nature's Son, after the Beatles song, which I'd included," he wrote. "It was set for release in September. In mid-August, Annie and I and some friends went up to Williams Lake to watch the first Perseid meteor showers. Imagine a moonless night in the Rockies in the dead of summer, and you have it. I had insisted to everybody that it was going to be a glorious display. Spectacular, in fact."

Denver says that he went out onto the lake for a while and when he came back, his group had returned to their tents. But soon, the meteor shower started, just as spectacular as John thought it would be. "I went back and lay down next to Annie in front of our tent, thinking everybody had gone to sleep, and thinking about how in nature all things, large and small, were interwoven, when swoosh, a meteor went smoking by," wrote Denver. "And from all over the campground came the awed responses 'Do you see that?' It got bigger and bigger until the tail stretched out all the way across the sky and burned itself out. Everybody was awake, and it was raining fire in the sky."

Many of the visuals you hear in the Rocky Mountain high lyrics come from this night. Lines such as "I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky," "the shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby," and "serenity of a clear blue mountain lake" are inspired by this experience. The song impacted John Denver so much that he changed the album title from Mother Nature's Son to Rocky Mountain High.

As the song took shape over the next few weeks, John thought about his life up to this point. Moving to the mountains of Colorado and escaping the smog, chaos, and superficiality of Los Angeles had changed his life and perspective. He poured his heart into the meaning of the Rocky Mountain high, and his writing became very personal. 

John Denver wrote in the third person about how the mountains transformed the song's protagonist and said it was like being born again and finding the key to every door. Even though Rocky Mountain High was a diary expressed in the third person, it portrayed John Denver's new life, love of nature and the mountains, and ecological manifesto.

In one of my favorite lines from the song, John Denver sings, "You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply, Rocky Mountain high, Colorado." Spending time in nature has profoundly affected my spiritual life. Something about a towering mountain, a colorful wildflower, a rushing waterfall, or a starry, moonless night reminds me that my God is incredible! The more time I spend in God's wonderful creation, the better I know Him. 

Nature can show us God's beauty, glory, power, presence, and creativity if we pay attention. In Psalms 19:1,2 (NLT), David wrote, "the heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known." In Romans 1:20 (NLT), the Bible tells us that "ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God."

Gentle Reader, whether you are into hiking, camping, kayaking, or just sitting on the porch of a cabin, take the time to explore God's creation and connect with the amazing God who created it. "Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you. Speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea tell you. Every one of these knows that the hand of the Lord has done this." Job 12:7-9 (NCV)