2024-05-19
After arriving in the Valley of the Gods and pursuing a hike up a lonely lovely canyon, we begin to look for a place to stay the night. Camping is allowed where the desert has already been disturbed. We pull off on a couple of jeep trails searching for privacy and some shade to sit under, but nothing feels just right. The search continues.
I know of a small road from my maps and we find an exposed place at the base of Rooster Butte. The wind is howling, it pushes my body for a while. Then, it leaves me alone in the calm. We make camp taking the time to decide how to lay out the tent and the truck to counteract the high winds. The truck makes some windbreak, but it takes two of us and a good sized collection of rocks to get the job done in the reoccurring wind, anyway.
We are on a exposed open knoll, overlooking many miles of iconic rock structures. There are a dozen tiny tents gathered around a campsite, maybe a mile away. Later, a lone man camping and sleeping in his SUV takes a similar spot on another far distant hill. Our SUV, as planned, protects us from his line of sight.
We can be seen and see for miles, but the nearest neighbors are too far to see our lack of clothes. We’re hiding in plain sight. Although we’re up on a hill, our camp can be seen from the rough road below, but there are a very few on it. When we arrived, we had to wait behind the truck for a van load of loud kids to pass. It has been peaceful since.
We eat before making a scouting walk around this tower. Sunset has arrived. It has been a good all nude day with a fine hike. The sun makes the reds redder. There is a glow to everything.
Shadows creep. I watch the rooster pinnacle and its pedestal creep further and further darkening the landscape for a mile as the sun sinks in the west.
Wind has died down, leaving us in a very comfortable dry air for enjoying free ranging nudity. We find a few rock sculptures, the desert quiet and a trail in the dust. It is peaceful. There is a palace, a fortress in the immediate distance standing magically in golden rose.
I disrobe to bare feet and walk on bedrock slabs. I feel grounded to the earth, in an other-worldly moment. We’ll try this again at dawn.
All of this is seemingly barren land and as we fall asleep looking at stars, out of the stillness, a desert cricket begins to chirp in the echo of a rock.
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