These peaks By Justin Sturtz, US Army Veteran These peaksLet us disconnectSee the beauty in the simplicitySee the complexity of nature These peaks Did not speak but they listenedTo our laughterTo our storiesTo ourselves These peaks Bore witness to the things we could not speak
Written while waiting, rather impatiently, for the sun to peek over the mountain at Gates Hut Elevation 9700 feet June 29, 2025 This morning I tried to rush the sunrise. With an empty coffee cup in my right hand, I began to wonder how much
What is “Huts for Vets?” He asks, already inwardly weary with acceptance at another trip, another week with me gone, another challenge. “It’s a sick hiking trip here in Colorado where they take a bunch of female veterans and hike to a cabin. It sounds
Lightning Strike by Alan Brown The lightning strike exploded at the base of a mature, sturdy aspen.
The trees hold secrets. Their roots beneath my feet, beneath the earth. That is where the truth is held. It’s the quiet whispers you can only hear when you stop to stand among the trees, among God’s greatest creation. How little I was beneath the
What did I see: Life, death, wind, trees swaying, grinding one another Death supporting Life, Life supporting Death, new growth, new beginnings, foliage, earth floor with droppings brush and flowers, birds, tree breaks, limbs on ground, flies, mosquitoes, ants, and bees Aspens & Spruce (pine)
As beautiful as this last little bit of the hike has been, with the sun peaking its head out between the trees here and there, I see darkness between the tree lines. It made me reflect that it’s okay to head into the darkness. It
Huts for Vets Like the lines of white crosses In Arlington, And so many other places, My tears fall for my dead Onto a pine floor in a cabin 10,000 feet above the sea, And their desert graves. Plum Blossoms, Santa fe Sitting outside
I am grateful for Huts for Vets. In the Fall/Winter of 2020, with the country and world dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and all that entails, like many other people, I found my self in a depression. Having Post Traumatic Stress, coupled with the pandemic,
I sat on top of Mt. Yekel – by the way, I had the best seat in the house – to see the sea of mountains and nature unfolding. I did some sketching and introspected in my solo experience and I came up with this:
Huts for Vets was founded in Aspen, Colorado in January 2013 to provide, at no cost to participants, wilderness and communal experiences as therapeutic healing for U.S. veterans and active-duty service members.