Occupation of Independence

 Despite the warm autumn weather I have made it down into central Utah.  It certainly is the kind of place that keeps photographers happy. But I found something more interesting than the scenery.  Once again, consider the hunters.  They are not really finding food in an economical way: for what they are spending on their sport they could buy an awful lot of food at the grocery store.   But they must have enough perspicuity to find satisfaction in connecting with something fundamental in life.  Our species didn't come into existence a couple hundred thousand years ago as scenery tourists.  They hunted and gathered for a living.  What about me, today?  Could I connect with something fundamental?  How would I find food here? I noticed a thick carpet of pinyon pine cones on the ground, and felt embarrassed that I knew nothing about the timing of pine nut production.  Then, a few steps from my camper, I found some cones still on the...

Although I have not hunted since high school, the hunters driving by camp at 0530 are my soulmates, in a sense.  And it is a nice feeling.  Who else besides hunters gets going early in the morning?  The typical camper shows no sign of life until 10 a.m., an unconscionable sin. But hunters are good for something else: their example might correct me on what I said in the last post.  It isn't right to argue that 99.9999% of the pixels in your viewscape are motionless, therefore motion is unimportant.  In fact, the tiny minority of moving pixels is vitally important.  Just ask the hunters or predators! There was quite a bit of inbound traffic on evening.  Somebody explained to me that another hunting season was starting.  They didn't have to tell me. The tiniest flick of ear or tail is noticeable in a landscape of stationary pixels.  That works for prey as well as predators.  Deer act so alert and intelligent at the beginning of hunting seas...

It really seems like the travel blog is dying these days.  I hope it survives.  All mediums have their pro-s and con-s.  The advantages of a text-and-photo blog are considerable.  The blog is of course being replaced by You Tube videos which really don't have great advantages.   So why are these videos so popular?  Isn't it because it reminds people of watching the boob tube?  There is remarkably little content in most travel videos.  They are really just "chewing gum for the eyes," as the old saying goes.   Inevitably they migrate towards the "adventurer" cooking in their van or just outside it.  Is there something fascinating about boiling water in a pan in a van that deserves 20,347 views and 357 comments?  This makes a bit of sense if the adventurer is a pretty and personable young woman, wearing skimpy clothing, while swishing her tail at the stove.  But really! Mountains don't move.  Neither do forests or ...

You don't camp on the edge of a mesa or near a cliff if you like calmness.  And yet it has been remarkably calm during the day.  The wind comes back for revenge in the middle of the night.   Strange. High winds make it difficult to sleep, not so much because of the rock-and-rolling, but for the noise.  Anti-noise headphones help a lot.  I have never used the headphones for that purpose before.  They work! It feels silly to have spent so much for the headphones and then hold them back "in reserve,"   rather than actually putting them to use.  But that is exactly what I have done.  Bicyclists can be familiar with this syndrome: they might struggle up a hill but resist using their lowest gear.