Desert Time: A Journey Through the American SouthwestNew Englander Diana Kappel-Smith explored the great deserts of the American West over an 18-month period. Traveling largely alone through the Southwest and parts of Idaho and Oregon, she logged 25,000 miles and discovered facets of the desertÑand its human inhabitantsÑthat may surprise even long-time residents. "You come to trust her company and to savor her observations: she is the sort of guide who gestures at what you would otherwise step acrossÑor onÑwithout noticing. She calls her collection 'an introduction to particulars.' These she infuses with radiance." ÑLos Angeles Times Book Review "With prose that is both lyrical and down-to-earth, Kappel-Smith makes readers aware of the fragility of the desert and the necessity to preserve these wonderful, alien and mysterious places." ÑSan Francisco Chronicle "We glimpse moments of experience, rendered both in words and in conscientious line drawings. The book has a gentle, meandering tone. It consciously refuses to manufacture dramatic events." ÑChristian Science Monitor |
Contents
elephant tree | 90 |
Is tortoise tortoise | 94 |
cattleman and mesquite ΙΟΙ | 101 |
patriots IIO 18 borderlands and river | 118 |
PART III | 129 |
Awatobi and the totaachi | 131 |
pilgrimage | 139 |
bechan | 148 |
ghost bedroom | 176 |
PART IV | 181 |
Owyhee | 183 |
sage | 198 |
lost water | 205 |
Idaho Hotel | 211 |
virgin camps | 218 |
tree line | 224 |
fossil water | 157 |
the color blue | 161 |
thorns spines ecstasies and itch | 168 |
strata | 172 |
on the edge | 228 |
bighorns | 231 |
moving mountains | 247 |
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Common terms and phrases
Anasazi animals Arizona Awatobi basin bighorn birds blue cactus camp canyon cattle cave Chihuahuan desert cholla Cobby color Colorado Colorado Plateau comes coyote Craig creek creosote creosote bush dark Death Valley desert dune dung dust filled fire fish grass gravel gray ground grouse hole Hopi horses hundred juniper Kerita kivas lake land landscape layers leaves live look Meadows mesa mesquite Mexico miles million missile Mojave mountains moving mule deer Navajo Nevada nowadays Owyhee County Paiute pale palms pinyon plants pronghorns rain range rhyolite river rock sage sage grouse salt sand Sandstone says sheep silver slopes smell Snake species spines spring stone Texas There's things thousand feet thousand years ago Tohono O'odham tortoise trail trees volcanic walls wash Western Interior Seaway wildlife wind yellow yucca Zuni