Those are the mountains of the Apathy Range. One would think it less a barrier than what had come before, but it is perhaps the greatest natural defense that the Greener Valleys has.
Most isolated ranges are outcroppings of rock worn down and laid over with soil and vegetation with the passage of time. The Apathy Range is an outcropping of pure emotion under the dirt and trees, and to walk its passes and byways is to be influenced thereby. That’s the real danger – wavering in one’s pursuit of the Greener Valleys thanks to the slow seep of disconnectedness that’s in every dock and twig and shrub.
The slopes are littered with little cabins built by people who didn’t see the point in going on, and often the bones of the same can be found inside.