My first experience with mountains occurred while in a road trip in my family’s minivan as the people I was with and I made our way through the Smoky Mountain range heading south to FL.
I distinctly remember my ears popping, a sensation that I would experience again just one year later when I flew on a commercial airplane for the first time.
The view from the highway was breathtaking, especially when I saw the wispy looking clouds that litter the panoramic mountain landscape. These clouds almost look like smoke billowing out of chimney stacks, as well as lend a lot to the name of this mountain range. Every one of us visited Gatlinburg a few years later as well as stayed in a resort in the mountains. It was on this trip that I realized I wanted mountains to be within driving distance wherever I live long term. Although it took a number of years to realize this dream, everything changed when I accepted a locale in a graduate program at the University of New Mexico. I moved to Albuquerque as well as was hastily living in a neighborhood with an elevation of over 5,000 feet. This isn’t something to take lightly when your body needs to get used to the elevation. I smoked cannabis instantly when I first moved here as well as I remember that it made myself and others believe higher than I ever had been before. The THC percentage wasn’t any higher 25% on any of the products I tried, as well as the strain with the highest terpenes was only at 2.2%. That’s quality cannabis, however nothing I’m not used to personally. Now I’m much more used to smoking cannabis in Albuquerque’s high elevation. Going up the Sandia Tramway will get you even higher, as Sandia Peak is almost 11,000 feet in the air.