#6 Mountain Air

One of my most favorite smells has to be the fresh, pure, cold mountain air. One of the main reasons I love it is because it is always changing and can be very different depending where you are in the world. Every place, be it ten steps away, ten miles away or more, has its own scent. 

I remember this one place in particular. I was on a scout camping trip in the Uintah Mountains. A couple of us decided one day to take the hatchet and hike around the forest chopping down dead trees. We were young boys and loved the sound they made when they fell. Anyways, I remember we found this HUGE pine tree that had died because of some fungus in the area or something like that. We were taking turns hacking at it and after my turn I decided to walk along the river back. I remember the rich pine tree smell in the cool, damp air mixed in with hints of earth and other plants. The cool air was that perfect temperature that when you took a breath and it filled your lungs, it filled your body with vigor and life. The air untainted by human technology, was just full of clean and pure oxygen fragranced by the mountain. I paused along that river bank, closed my eyes and with every breath I felt more and more at peace. I would like to say I could smell the river mixed in with the pine trees but I don’t know if clean rivers have a smell. I think the river was what made the air that perfect cool temperature. As I was standing there eyes closed, breathing, listening to nature, a breeze blew through and my nose caught a hint of something else. Something fresher that added a little crispness to the air. I moved upwind to see if I could find it and before long I found myself in the middle of it. The air was now filled with not only pine, hints of earth and other plants but MINT. With every breath this scent was rejuvenating as well as amazingly calming.

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