Miller Peak Wilderness

miller peak, wilderness, coronado national forest, pine trees, needles, cones, maples, cedars, stream, rounded rocks, subduction, continental drift

Wednesday April 22, 2015

Hiked up the canyon into the Miller Peak Wilderness (from the west side, from the Coronado National Forest). I passed through a friggin pine forest! 100-foot Ponderosa pines, it looked like, with pine cones on a mat of needles covering the ground. No stumps, so no logging? Virgin forest? There were burn marks on the trees...

Is this a "sky island"?

Why does a water drainage turn into a wash rather than a creek? I think it has something to do with the ability of rocks to round, or break. Creeks have a lot of rounded granite boulders; washes have a lot of brittler rocks that grind up to make a flat bottom of sand or small rocks.


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There was an empty Border Patrol truck parked a ways before the Wilderness boundary sign. Maybe the guy was lying on a reclined seat, below the windows?

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The night before I had found a camp on an actual stream, a real creek (I think it was Bear Creek). It felt good to wash up in the endlessly-on tap of the flowing water. Lots of different colored bands in all kinds of varieties of rocks, big boulders and small striped pebbles.

Saw towhees, and robins, and large squirrels almost rabbit-sized. Big old maples by the stream. I haven't seen maple leaves in months! Also, what is different from the Pacific Northwest forests I'm used to, lots of oaks and dried-up old oak leaves covering the ground. But the trees had green leaves on them too.

Why would the government creating money to transfer to me, so that I can continue to pursue my happiness peacefully, nonviolently, solitarily, necessarily result in the immediate and violent destruction of all society?