Above - blue sky thru carved metal, a modern marker in the Millville area of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
Below - light rock/dark patina, an older symbol pecked into rock in the Millville area.
It's pure folly to think that I can discern the reason for, or meaning in, a 1,000 year old spiral... but, maybe, dropped alone by the San Pedro and tasked with pecking symbols into stone, out under the night sky, my hands might, eventually, shape some kind of spiral.
The metal logo is of my time, modern and understandable, a representation of an experience that can still be found along the river - at least in the right place, in the right season.
I wonder if in my lifetime the bird's reflection will become an obscure reference for new visitors, something that takes historic, maybe political, context to understand, explained more clearly by an interpretive sign than by a walk along the river. My personal experience here is as much about shadows on sand as it is about reflections on water.
- Opinions divided on massive Benson housing development - AZPM
- Groundwater use for Fort Huachuca and the San Pedro River - AZPM
- Villages at Vigneto | Tucson Audubon Society
- The San Pedro – A River Challenged, part 1 – Kai Staats and The San Pedro – A River Challenged, part 2 – Kai Staats
After a tour around Millville reading about the history and looking at the past we turn into a sandy drainage towards the river - past the datura, closed, past the long leafy runners of the Buffalo Gourds and thru an arch under the old railway.
The arch is covered in graffiti, the river is covered in a thin sheet of flowing water.
Small creatures scurry away from us both in the water and on the banks, the surrounding hills block the sunset and the river fades into dusk.
