
go to link Juniper High Above Black Canyon © 2013 Bo Mackison
https://paradiseperformingartscenter.com/s57jnr76xw The Fourth Day – East Across Colorado
follow A half-dozen times I’ve circled Black Canyon National Park on vacation maps
and a half-dozen times we lingered too long at Arches or Canyonlands,
and Black Canyon was scratched. Who even knows there is such a place as
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park anyway?
https://www.yolascafe.com/ipl6yu2x0q Now you can count me among its visitors, I’ll keep its secret.
Here are steep cliffs, ancient rock, craggy spires,
and walls streaked with dragon outlines, erosion’s art work
on rocky canvas 2000 feet from flowing river to cliff edge.

Tramadol Online Overnight Mastercard Black Canyon National Park © 2013 Bo Mackison
https://geolatinas.org/64maaop Oh, the quiet places, open spaces, vertical wilderness
shared with soaring hawks and eagles.
Cloud cover kept the canyon in shadow, but the river’s song
sounded on the high mesa and wildflowers bloomed
in the roots of twisted junipers.
https://penielenv.com/apru8gi57 Twenty years getting here and I had only half a day
to see what I had missed, a half day to know I’ll return.
When the wind gusts spiked at 50 mph, I knew I’d pushed my luck,
but a tail wind pushed me half-way across Colorado.

https://danivoiceovers.com/lep8lx1h09j Stranded Boat Dock © 2013 Bo Mackison
Tramadol Sverige Online Colorado has fine scenery, but those low gray clouds packed with snowy potential
overwhelmed my yearn to pull over and explore.
Still, there was plenty to see –
the up and down rhythm of mountain, valley, mountain.
Tumbleweeds skirted the highways.
https://www.brigantesenglishwalks.com/h5fa8ayt Cimarron, Colorado. Conjurer of Wild West.
Lakes half filled, driftwood sculptures lace the sandy edges.
And colors bleached by winter’s touch take on color —
greening grasses, tree twigs in muted yellows, pinks, rusty reds,
Weeping willows in yellow-green tangles.
Calves snooze in muddy pastures,
content as their mothers graze nearby.

https://lpgventures.com/gcpjrjrlw9h Dust Storm at Curecanti © 2013 Bo Mackison
https://guelph-real-estate.ca/74o8faymr Dust clouds swirl around my car at Curecanti.
I stop at another ranger station,
it’s a slow day for recreation, the staff ply me with coffee, maps,
highlight the safest route through the eastern mountain passes.
Another hawk sweeps past my car, hawks are my companion bird this trip.
follow San Isabel National Forest.
Steepy Mountain.
And then Monarch Pass. Fitting, Monarch is the pass to bid me farewell
as I cross the Continental Divide and head towards the plains.
https://www.marineetstamp.com/hy4pmm4rp Salida and a stop at Sally’s Cafe for coffee.
The road follows the Arkansas River,
running with spring melt, thunder-crashing into protruding red rock.
Fly fishermen queue for prime locations.
https://mocicc.org/agricultura/rot3f0p In the high desert town of Cañon City
I watch the last hawk of the day —
dancing, sky diving, it welcomes the evening.
https://purestpotential.com/ks2d0m7 ———
https://www.mbtn.net/?p=mii1kls8 Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. A cross-country traveler by day, and an occasional poet. This is a poem in nine parts, because the trip lasts nine days. This is day four!