The mountain air was cool, with the bite of winter in the air. The area we were hiking had recently had it's first dusting of snow, covering the rocks and the yellowed grass with a layer of white which reflected the sun and caused the surrounding colors to pop as if someone had suddenly turned up the saturation; the cobalt blue of the lakes below, the deep green of the pines, even the speckled grey of the rocks. In the distance too we could hear the cowbells singling the location of the beasts from whose neck they hung, even though we could not actually see the animals through the hills.