I'd Like to Buy a Vowel

I recently mentioned my peregrination to Colorado, including an allusion to some hiking.  When I hike in the desert, I like the canyons.  When I hike in the mountains, though, I like valleys and lakes.  Not surprisingly, I like valleys that end in lakes.  Double score!

Outside of Crested Butte, not too far, is a pretty lake - Emerald Lake, to be specific - that lies as the source of a small river.  It's a good valley to explore, and a GREAT lake to visit.  Here is photo of Emerald Lake:

As an added bonus, just such a lake lies in small bowl surrounded by mountain peaks.  Such a bowl is called, I believe,  a "cirque," which is a very fine word.  I'm not 100% sure a cirque with a lake is still called a cirque, but I like to think so.  I do know cirques lie at the heads of mountain valleys and are, thus, usually good places to be.

Even better, a synonym for cirque is "cwm," pronounced "koom."  Now, if you consider the letter "y" to be a vowel, there are very few words left in the English language that are spelled without vowels.  If you furthermore eliminate words that are somewhat onomatopoetic in nature, such as "psst" ahd "hmm," the list grows even shorter.  Of the ones I can find, cwm is my favorite.  Probably because of what it is.

So, I made my way to Emerald Lake, located in a honey of a cwm, and put my own spin on the experience, as has become my once-per-trip tradition:

 

I'm not sure it gets any better than this: a beautiful mountain lake, an icy Coke, a can of Vienna Sausage, and a cwm.  Perfect.