The mystery of life isn’t a problem

We were quietly looking around for Sunstones as the sky shifted to deep blue and then purple sunset-tones. The gentle, desert-baked glimmer captured in those stones felt like an echoing brilliance of this massive April “pink” moon that was somehow quickly floating over some Eastern Oregon mountains.

Ben: I couldn’t help but feel a bit of awe realizing how the best answers are often just right there, kind of floating in front of you, in the quiet beauty of the present moment.

Moon: Life isn’t something to be solved, but to be experienced.

Shirk Ranch Vibe

The vibe at Shirk Ranch is all in the weathered edges: old glass, old wood, still standing out here in the high desert.

A process cannot be understood by stopping

W. Edwards Deming was talking about manufacturing when he said it. I think about that line every time I’m out there with a camera: a process cannot be understood by stopping.

The first hour in the desert is always wasted. You show up, see the obvious shot, take it, and it looks like every other photo of that dune anyone’s ever taken. The good stuff doesn’t show up until you’ve been standing there long enough to stop looking for it.

I’ve learned to treat the first hour as the toll you pay to get in. Walk without the camera up. Let the heat do what heat does. Somewhere around hour two the desert stops performing for you and starts just being itself- a broken track, a line in the sand that wasn’t there yesterday, the sound dropping out entirely once you’re far enough from the road.

None of that shows up on a schedule. It shows up once you’ve stopped trying to finish and started just staying.

That’s the whole method, if I have one. Don’t stop early.

Red Velvet Cake

It’s a bit slower going, but it also sounds pretty compelling… heck, these hills almost look edible.

If nothing else, it might be more photogenic than the rest of that valley. It’s pretty up here, for sure- but the road gets pretty sketchy at times, too. Doesn’t look like anyone really heads this way much.

As the sun starts to go down, the setting colors splashed onto the surrounding mountains reminds you of pictures you’ve seen of Oregon’s Painted Hills.

Other than the wind, it’s really peaceful… but still you start to think that heading North as long as possible might have been the best idea. It’s generally less hot in that direction, right? It’s only a passing thought- you definitely don’t have the gas to cover that kind of distance. Everything uphill around here is cooler at night, and it’s a lot closer.

“Well”, you think to yourself, “If I’ve got 200 miles to cover with what’s left of these gasoline dregs, I better not try back-tracking now.”

You take a long, deep breath and keep driving towards El Dorado…

“This better be worth it.”

You Got Lucky

Well, that was too close for comfort. Miles and miles into the horizon had finally caught up to your fuel supply, and when the low-fuel light finally got your attention… panic started to set in.

By some wild coincidence you notice an overturned fuel tank apparently rotting away in the dry lot of some sort of long-forgotten gas station. Although you feel apprehensive scrounging for fuel, you feel even more apprehensive about getting stuck in this desert.

The fuel tank itself is intact, even though it takes you a while to figure out how to open the filling port that’s nearly rusted solid. It finally gives way and screeches wildly as you manage to pry it ajar… and holy heck- it’s almost half full!

It takes an hour of scooping cup after cup of gas out of the fuel tank and carefully pouring it into your vehicle, but it’s worth the patience. The gas smells pretty old, but you cross your fingers, turn the ignition… and sure enough- the gas still does what you needed it do.

Yeah… you got lucky, bae.

You continue north as the sun starts to set, with the memory of that Tom Petty classic playing in your mind.

Rain Shadow

It’s quite the climb back down from Manhattan. By the time you make it back into the valley, you realize the sun is going to set in a few more hours. You take a moment to appreciate the sun-rays and shadows cast from one of the only patches of clouds around. Seems a few of them occasionally do make it across the Sierra Nevadas… but there’s probably no rain coming from that rag-tag lot anytime today.

Ahead is a fork in the road where the one you’re on continues following this valley, more or less Northward (maybe even under those clouds; one can only hope). It might be a little more boring route to take, but you know you’ll cover a lot more ground by following the valley.

The sign by the trail off to your left, though, is what really caught your eye. It’s handmade out of wood and looks pretty weathered, saying only “ELDORADO – 200“.

That’s apparently Westward and up into those mountains.  Slower going, but it sounds pretty compelling. The hills are green compared to this desert floor and who knows, maybe there’s water falling down one of those little canyons?

Manhattan Bank Vault

Another bank vault? Looks like these things were built to endure all kinds of intrusion (including time itself).

You don’t think there’s any cool, refreshing drinks inside the rusty old Nye and Ormsby county bank vault so you just press onward. Looks like there’s a tower of some kind nearby and a ruined old building on the cliffside.

Your thirst is getting overwhelming, though… so you can also just leave the town altogether; maybe you’ll have better chances of finding water outside this old canyon?

Manhattan Boulevard

Wow, this road is much easier to travel on than all the washed-out gravel trails around Luning. It’s hard to believe but it’s even hotter here, too. You’ll need to find water soon.

Looks like up ahead is a small town called Manhattan, Nevada. You wonder if a place like Manhattan has any cold drinks on hand…

Rabbit Sentry

A rabbit shows up, watching you pass as you leave behind the deserted wreckage of Luning.

You stop for a moment just as he takes a dive into the downed trees nearby. Like so many of the inhabitants of the desert, this rabbit apparently wants no interaction with visitors.

There’s a long asphalt ribbon laid out just ahead- looks like a decent (if lengthy) road leading out into the desert valley.