I suppose our only rebuttal is to climb them and hoot from atop their peaks. The smaller, rounder mountains look less victorious. They don't seem to have as much energy as the jagged peaks, and most of them look patchy and torn from clear-cut logging. They look tired and glum. Everything here is covered in snow and ice.
Some trees are bent over from the weight of it, kissing the ground.
There are little footprints in the snow atop frozen creeks and rivers, but I haven't seen anything smaller than a moose walking around in the light of day. I wonder if the animals frolic and have fun in the snow, or if they're cold and miserable. Every couple of hours we pass through a tiny little settlement, with a few log houses and a road or two. I wonder if they live off of the land or off of 7-11 and J. Crew. Tonight we will pass over the Alberta-BC border, losing an hour as we change from Mountain to Pacific Standard Time.