This geographer/geologist Clarence Dutton supposedly once said that if you could see Nevada's Basin and Range from above, it would look like an army of caterpillars marching south toward Mexico. That was like 100 years ago (100+ BG), so now the "if," like so many other ifs, has been replaced by satellite.
Anyway, one of those caterpillars is the Stillwater Range. Mississippi Canyon drains out of its eastern slope onto Dixie Valley. Tax day weekend, Larry and Griffy from across the street took me to see the place. From the condition of the trail, and the vintage of the few articles of human debris we came across, it looks like people have pretty much left the upper canyon alone for over a decade.
Also, I've been meaning to share this for a while. Here seems as good a place as any:
sustancia bondadosa es el cielo
nos da la realdad y también el lago
es azul en su centro y poblado de astros
kind substance the sky
gives us reality and the lake also
is blue in its center and peopled with stars
-Homero Aridjis
1969 Los espacios azules/Blue Spaces
related: highway 50
Oddly compelling footage. Have you thought about working in the Aridjis poem somehow? Might make an interesting videopoem.
ReplyDeletebelieve me that I did consider it, Dave; I've been inspired by many of yours: Los hearldos negros, Deer in Deep Grass, Ceiling Snakes...
ReplyDeletemaybe I'll get my act together soon and try one.