Accipitrarius Sordidatus

We are heading out to the Caprock Canyonlands Saturday morning. It’s my annual week or so retreat from technology and hygiene. I need to go see how the prairie falcons are doing.

I’ve made the trip many times, never alone, but never more than five of us. It’s supposed to snow there the day before we get there and will likely be bumping up to 100 before we return.

We will hike for hours or sit in the sand of a little used wash, watching the wind erode the canyon walls. We may find old bones and break one or two of our own. We’ll spit sand out of our coffee and pick prickly pear spines from places on our arms and legs we thought were protected.

Despite a barren and inhospitable first impression, it is a warm land with life re-emerging after winter. I have pages of triple- columned lists of plants, grasses, bugs, reptiles, birds, and animals we’ve seen or heard or just found traces of over the years.

It’s a trip back in time.

The canyon as we know it was formed in the triassic period, after the continents separated and the great salt sea drained away. For over 10,000 years, man has lived in these canyons. Some left only the barest trace, others left a turbulent history well known to us today.

Over time I have learned that my family is part of that recent history and it is good to reconnect with them in the simplest manner of just being there.

It is a good place and I am more than ready to go.