These are portraits of rocks I encountered on the trail to Snow Lake, the most visited lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The views from the trail are well known and abundant on social media. Instead of that traditional grand vista, these paintings offer intimate portraits of small moments that are easily overlooked.

In 2022 the deteriorating effects of so many feet prompted the trail's closure to remediate the damage and serve the needs of an increasing number of visitors. Explosives were used to redefine the trail and some of these rocks have been destroyed; an inevitable process that has now been accelerated to a human timescale rather than a geologic one.