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Mesa to Canyon along the Colorado Plateau
Desert Southwest | March
"...I
drank water on a grassy plateau, and entered the gulch. This slot descended
to 500 feet under its cliffs, and it was narrow. Soon, there were patches
of water. When they became impassable I took off my boots and waded through
them at knee length. The water stank of dead animals, and was a sinewy
brown, so I was glad to be on sand.my feet, however, began to sink, and
I realized that this was the quicksand the rangers had warned about."
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The Saltwater Fish of Death Valley
Desert Southwest | June
"..,It's unlikely that anybody beyond a handful of scientists would care much about this tiny fish, except for the fact that farmers were keen to use this same series of springs for their crops. In the desert, water is always at a premium. In the late 1960's, at the same time these farmers were eyeing the Ash Meadows land, the Devil's Hole Pupfish was given the endangered species designation. And with only 400 living fish all smaller than an inch long, they in fact are rather endangered."
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Wandering Eastern Mojave
Desert SouthweST | FEBRUARY
"...Somehow, the kit fox made it between my tires, and dazed, walked off into the flats. My guilt for the rabbit was short-lived. But my guilt for almost hitting the kit-fox lasted the entire five hours to Los Angeles. Really, the two species are quite similar in terms of their biology. What differentiates them is availability - the San Joaquin Kit Fox is endangered, and prone to coming out the back end of cars. It is an isolated species, profoundly unique and rare. "
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Atomic Agriculture on the Rio Grande
Desert Southwest | MAY
We decided to take a walk up the mountains near Las Cruces, in the evening when the sun casts its long glow over humble Las Cruces. When each truck crossing a dirt road fifty miles away is seen by its plume of dust high in the still air. I am thinking about that border guard, how he must be home right now, in his shitty trailer park, playing war with tin soldiers or squeezing his face at his wife and yelling loudly. I wonder how my wife, marching along, might not enjoy a pursuit of answers about the chili pepper at all - mad border guards, long drives, crappy desert towns.
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Bombay Beach and the Salton Sea
Desert Southwest | sEPTEMBER
"..The
truck slowed at my presense, and a bald man and his scruffy wife grinned
at me and drove on. While I was walking down the main street of Bombay
Beach, I noticed the blue truck had stopped, and the couple was watching
the sunrise. I had taken a recent interest in the development of mobile
home parks in the west. "
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Paddling and Driving the Los Angeles River
Desert Southwest | May
"...We walked the gentle ridge of the Los Angeles River's first dam, and down into a marshy bed of sand and water; through the bamboo, and out into the shadow of the iron claws of the dam. "Watch out for the pit bull," Alvin said as I made my way into the water. But by this time, a big ugly thing was charging me; splashing through the water with its evil eyes and spiked collar. "
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Death and Salvation on the New River
Desert Southwest | June
A voyage into the heart of a mad desert river. "That mountain - it's one of the geological 'slabs', is really just a clay hill. The slabs are a series of wasteland buttes that extend into the empty desert beyond. Leonard began painting one day when it was 118 degrees in the fierce Salton Sea summer sun. It was terribly hot, and Leonard was just planning on staying in the area a few days, but instead of leaving after painting his messages of God, he decided to stay and paint forever. "
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Barren Anza Borrego Desert
Desert Southwest | April
"...As I rounded a cliff, I saw two bulls fighting on a plateau; and this was a thoroughly stunning scene. But I was getting concerned; the rain was creating a fog as I drove higher into the mountains. Soon, the fog grew to a visibility of 50 feet. Headlights at 70, and on this narrow winding road, this means extreme caution; and so for almost two hours I crept along at 10 miles per hour. "
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Panamint Valley Roach Motel
Desert Southwest | June
"...My plan was to hike two miles on a mud flat at the center of Panamint Valley. The valley is gigantic, and parts of it fall within the Death Valley National Park boundaries. The Panamint Valley can defy imagination - at once it appears lifeless and desolate, and with the falling of the sun - warm and otherworldy, filled with the colors of ancient stone."
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Four Seasons of the Western Mojave
Desert Southwest | March
"..From here I can see five miles of trees, and a Jack Rabbit, the size of a small dog ditching his Chuparosa hideout. I find a Prickly Pear Cactus, and examine some lichen through my loupe - lime, aqua, red-orange and pitch. When dawn broke, we walked through Hidden Valley, a windless, completely rock enclosed valley. "
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Trona and the Unusual Lake Searles
Desert Southwest | February
"...Go to any small bar in any small town, and you will get the same answer. "Too many people there huh?" "Yeah." "Way too many fucking people there huh?" "Yeah." And he started laughing and drew the last sip from his pitcher and said, "That's it. Too many fucking people." He kept laughing when an older fat sow of a woman entered the bar, ordered a beer (Michelob Light) and soon Brian became her victim. She asked what he did and, "Why the hell are you still in Ridgecrest?"
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High Desert
Micro Update | Desert Southwest | April
I didn't require adventure, and had little desire for the true unknown or original. What I wanted was to know something I had not known before, nor had I expected to find. I wondered what prejudices those ladies' parents had instilled in them about the world.
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Tales and History from the Channel Islands
Micro Update | Desert Southwest | April
Islands off the coast of Los Angeles harbour windblown zoology.
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