Cascading down the side of an arroyo, the mortal (and purple) remains of a Mesozoic beast. The faintly purple tinge of the bone fragments may be due to manganese, says a local paleontologist who refuses to stake his life on that.
And speaking of stakes, we were not the first discovers. Above and below the scatter were short lengths of rebar with aluminum tags–now illegible, leaving the bones once again to their quiet unmaking.
A spring in a big rincón, westward-facing. Water, with help from prevailing winds, had carved out an arching cave in the sandstone perhaps 30 feet high. Its ceiling was dotted with grapefruit-size nests of cliff swallows. The birds flew over us, alarmed and crying.
On the arch is a Navajo “star ceiling,” probably Cassiopeia. Look for the stars, red ochre Xes. Then look more closely: there are faint, perhaps earlier black stars as well.
WORLD-BUILDING and WILDERNESS: 