A Lone Figure
Alone in a black hoodie on the sparse and sometimes-deadly Mesa
Butch Tarko is a bad driver
Snoopy, Come Home
We were on the Mesa driving home when we saw a lone figure, dressed in black, walking up the road. From town to our house is about 20 miles — five miles over the mountain — on the only road that leads out here. You pass the Continental Divide Trail on the left, but the road continues. The road is one and a half lanes. Off to one side is the edge of the canyon, dropping maybe two thousand feet; on the other side the cliff, also two thousand feet — only up. The vegetation is a mix of juniper, prickly pear, cactus — anything with needles, points, or knife-edged blades for leaves, stickers, and sharp branches at eye level. Any plant is welcome as long as it can grow in nothing but rocky sand, with hardly any rain, at high altitude, and cause pain. In other words, this is a region of the United States that is out to get you. Apart from the few Continental Divide hikers, there never appears to be anyone here, even though it is the Gila National Forest. Not many drivers come out this way …