Lost Peak Called

A fleeting vision while exiting Colorful Colorado of a moody Mescalero next to an empty cardboard box alongside an empty whiskey flask at the Guadalupe Rim’s Five Points view spot flooded Jack’s mind. A dirty green greasewood filled valley lay below.

Rain hastened Jack’s departure from Bottomless Lakes the next morning as he sought the thirty-mile dead end back country byway that leads to De Sosa’s Treasure cache. Concomitant Indian Basin conglomerate liquid black gold severance lay below. Another rain hastened departure from Sitting Bull Falls. Dog Campground appeared across the Texas border.

The next morning, Jack hiked the Vista View Trail that began by weaving among the boulders of the dry Dog Canyon Creek, which held no fish. Erupting purple Agave cactus stalks guarded the Devil’s Den cache where Jack met self-proclaimed Luddite spelunkers and heard warnings about the Guadalupe Mountains dangers. Onward, upward into the unknown territory of a cloudless morning marked by the endless steps of rock water bars. Finally, a small sign in a rock cairn appeared at Jack’s feet, it read “Lost Peak, 7834.” An arrow pointed to a side trail that soon disappeared into a backside canyon. A final bushwhack straight up through spiny yucca cactus, grabby brush, and mazes of shale led to the summit.

Jack saw Dell City in the hazy distance, surrounded by bright green circles of irrigated alfalfa fields - alfalfa grown for cattle feedlots.

Another vision of the White Devil Race eating the World.