Embarking on the traditional trek across Tribal Lands, Four Corners, to Gunnison to meet Chris and Scharmin at their cabin. Solo in the car, though, on this transit, without Loki it is sad, instead with Sage, the mild-mannered and warm Aussie.
The raw earth, impinging on sky, fills many gaps in motion-saturated being to a fullness not reached under any other circumstance. More about that later.
Make it across the reservation, across the heated spaces, rapidly. 60-70 mph. But stopping more frequently to check on Sage — to see how she is handling the heat in the back of the truck in a crate. She seems unfazed, and completely carried away by the smells at each stop. So much so that she can hardly go potty. Too many good odors to follow up on. The landscape is, as always, stretched taut between earth and heaven. Light traffic, few tourists. Shiprock shows up on the southern horizon on the stretch of road past Four Corners. And I try to make the connection between that apparition and the video I shot of it five years ago from the same vantage. All is apparition. All is unrevealed by Light shimmering from the sky. Seeing people only far off through a reversed telescope. And now that all gas stations are direct credit-pay, there need be no interaction between Self and Other. Not even exchanging money. It’s a change in the social fabric, a deep change. Another alien-nation manifestation. Flagstaff, Navajo Reservation, Ute Mountain Reservation, Cortez, the Dolores River, Lizard Head Pass, Telluride, Montrose, the Black Canyon, Curecanti, West Elk, and finally here to Soap Creek. The main decision upon arrival, whether or not to sleep on the ground. The choice bounded by limited knowledge of the local wildlife, but south 30 miles into the Uncompaghre Wilderness there are definitely large carnivores, must be here as well as Soap Creek is a trailhead dead-end into a wilderness area. The thought of being wrapped in bivvy sack, sleeping bag, liner, and clothes, zipped up, and becoming a meal. Uff. But the desire to be prone, between earth and stars, with ponderosa silhouetted, black on black is of opposite attraction. No moon. No moon.