As It Is

“Even after years of intimate contact and search this quality of strangeness in the desert remains undiminished. Transparent and intangible as sunlight, yet everywhere present, it lures a man on and on, from the red walled canyons to the smoke-blue ranges beyond, in a futile but fascinating quest for the great, unimaginable treasure that the desert seems to promise. Once caught by this golden lure you become a prospector for life, condemned, doomed, exalted. One begins to understand why Everett Ruess kept going deeper and deeper into the canyon country, until one day he lost the thread of the labyrinth; why the old time prospectors, when they did find the common sort of gold, gambled, drank and whored it away quickly as possible and returned to the burnt hills and the search. The search for what? They could not have said; neither can I; and would have muttered something about gold, silver, copper…anything as a pretext. And how could they hope to find this treasure which has no name and has never been seen? Hard to say…and yet, when they found it, they could not fail to recognize it. Ask Everett Ruess.”

Quote: Edward Abbey, “Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness: A Celebration of the Beauty of Living in a Harsh and Hostile Land. Page 272.

Having not set a definitive destination as we had embarked on our journey, I now stop, smile and exclaim, “Well, here we are!”

Quote: Jbee. From somewhere in the wilds of southeastern Utah

Have a wonderful World Naked Hiking Day!…

…on this Thursday, June 24th, 2024

I am on the forum of FreeRangeNaturism.com often, if you would like to converse.

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