We paid $10.00. The black-and-caution-yellow-striped gate lifted. The gravel road ascended Mount Defiance, a Revolutionary War site. Tired from the image of hauling cannons up to the top, where a concrete picnic pavilion with wood beams sits, she and I looked below to sun-brightened greenness, murky waters of Lake Champlain, hexagon of Fort Ticonderoga, distant mountains stopping the view, while catbird mewed and warbling vireo serenaded. Later, we described the day to friends; we could not remember the Mount’s name. In conversation between us, we found that “Mount Desperation,” had sat in both our heads. Jinx!
Julia Clebsch is a lesbian writer of creative nonfiction memoir essays combining place, nature, and family. She has been published in Five Minutes and Legacy.