Mountains

I love the view of the San Gabriel Mountains here in Claremont.

Every morning, when I drive out of the house heading northwards towards the Village, I see the mountains. Even if I don't see the mountains, there are reminders of them everywhere. I drive on roads with names like Foothill and Baseline. There's a church called the "Mountain View Baptist Church". And wherever you go in Claremont, you are never really on flat ground. (You discover that pretty quickly when you have to push double stroller with two kids around town and you realise that going one direction is much more difficult than going the other.)

Years ago, Fiona asked me if I liked the sea or mountains more. I like both, of course, and that's why I loved the Whitsunday Islands so much -- both sea and mountains (well, gentle ones, but mountains nonetheless by Singapore standards). But if I had to choose, I would have to say that I love mountains more. In every dream I have had of heaven, mountains have figured prominently.

This might seem frivolous, but the proximity to the San Gabriel mountains was one reason why I chose to come to Claremont. I wanted to see mountains again.

Last week, before the family came, I went running on a path that pretty much hugs the base of the San Gabriel mountains, just north of town. It was a tough run, as it was uphill one way and then downhill the way back. After the run, I drove up towards a small village in the mountains, called Mount Baldy Village.

It was a lonely, sombre drive. Up close, the mountains are stark, grave and cold, perhaps even ominous and foreboding. But it was thrilling to drive above the valley floor, to see, at various turns, the entire valley opening up through certain views along the drive. And, as it was approaching sunset, it was uplifting to see the mountains and to notice how their colours changed with the shifting light of the gloaming. Driving down, they looked different when I had been driving up. Shadows were cast differently. Some colours were more vivid. And of course, the sky seemed closer, clearer and purer, more welcoming to an earthbound person like me.

I hope to post some good photos of the mountains soon.