Sky Island

saguaros guardians of the sonora a battalion wafting in one hundred degree heat standing sentry on granite slopes vertical green etches in carmel cliffs literally--litter the foothills rising up the mountain saguaros fall away ocotillos remain their leafy tentacles flailing like upside down tarantulas dotting the crevices and shelves along with mexican oak climbing higher ocotillo give way to arizona cypress, alligator juniper, and too many nondeciduous oaks to name desert? what desert? temperature's dropped to sixty four at six thousand feet aspen and maple emerge a little further along come all the conifers tall dark forests of douglas fir and ponderosa pine nearing the summit there's... snow? not snow. in august? no, not snow. really? nine thousand feet corkbark fir and a couple of spruce it's now a cool fifty two town on top we stop baby needs hoody and hot chocolate grandpa needs to fathom it all fifty miles, six thousand five hundred feet below it's one hundred and three sky island not overrated