Water in the desert
After the rains came - and it rained for weeks - the desert did something new. So we went to see the new stuff in the Superstition Mountains; rivers and streams that hadn't flowed for years probably. Flowers springing from the earth.
And a rattlesnake.
I don't remember where this hike is, too struck by what's there I guess. But this dude has the directions:
www.toddshikingguide.com
We even hiked past a ranchito (that's small ranch) with an empty corral, an old building decorated with antlers and rusty shovel heads. This sight reminded me of two things:
First, the corral. For the rest of the day, I heard Roger Clyne's song "Horses" in my head. It goes like this:
I woke up this morning
With a bump on my head
An empty corral
And a stone cold bed
Well all of my livestock
Was nowhere in sight
She took all of my horses
when she left me last night
Then, the old place with the shovel heads and old wooden walls reminded me of a little part in House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday:
...Like sentinels in the plain, old keepers of the weather watch. There, in a very little while, wood takes on the appearance of great age. All colors wear soon away in the wind and rain, and then the wood is burned gray and the grain appears and the nails turn red with rust. The windowpanes are black and opaque; you imagine there is nothing within, and indeed there are many ghosts, bones given up to the land
Those who are familiar with Roger Clyne are probably wondering who the hell N. Scott Momoday is. Conversely, those who are familiar with Momday's work are wondering who the hell this Clyne fellow is.
This is fitting, because when you see Coffee Flat during a "normal" time, you'd wonder what the hell all that water is doing in these photos.
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