To Capture and Share

I'm in the Borrego Badlands on a day so windy it brings up dust storms. 

The dust and wind dance together and seem to be alive in their fusion. I look across the wide expanse of the badlands and my view is obscured by clouds of rising dust, grit, and sand. The mountains seem once again softened by mist and cloud. Off in the distance, the Salton Sea is barely discernible from the surrounding landscape and the mountains beyond are completely eclipsed by the dust storm.

 I'd come seeking clear skies.

The paper of my journal is covered in grit. And the pen seems hesitant to move across the page. The wind is wild.

I find myself longing for a different landscape, but there's beauty here as well. It's stark and seems sterile, and It's so dry - even with the recent rainfall. There's barely any green on the desert plants. The ocotillo are bony hands with eerily moving fingers in the wind. 

I hear a raven calling and the voices in the dust. 

The usual color in the badlands is absent today, even though the light is lovely and strong.

A sign somewhere speaks about the good in the badlands. 

"...describes land of no apparent use to humans. Vast and eroded, void of topsoil and vegetation - can't be farmed or ranched. Sedimentary rocks - layers rich with natural history. Fossils locked in rock preserve the stories of animals and plants that once thrived here. When the light is right, the badlands glow with vibrant color. Erosion has created fantastic shapes and patterns that become a challenge to capture and share."

Into the Beams is a 40 day wilderness writing journey during the 2018 Venus Retrograde period. There is no agenda other than to show up and discover the treasures buried there.


Photo (c) 2015 Katherine Cartwright. View of sedimentary rock in the Borrego Badlands, Anza-Borrego Desert Park.