Pilgrimage to the desert reconnects me to my place in time and a respect for mystery; it is a time for playful wandering. This year’s wander was around Zion, the Grand Staircase of the Escalante, Capitol Reef, Bryce and various places off Utah route 12. During preparation a few days before departure I wrote in my journal:

I am preparing for a journey into the realm of intense observation, of conscious presence and of mystery. Time is both precise, narrow and of the moment as well as broad, ambiguous and mysterious. Consciousness is incomplete without this temporal paradox. The simple rides hand in hand with the profound and they smile in recognition to one another. A familiar mystery may greet me – the invitation is sent. This is retreat and pilgrimage – may the journey be good.