Dust Devil

Borderlands, Atascosa Foothills

Puffing up, scrambling down. 4300-5000 corrugated feet of oak, coral bean, mirabilis, woven rivulets. Meters mere inches southward, we muse, "Same over there. An intact ecosystem. Spectacular."

Picture El Jefe lounging the length of the thigh-thick branch jutting across that chasm, four strands of twisted wire, pads the size of outstretched hands, leaving behind with each step mystery, wild power, crossing, recrossing this divided land.

—Carl Stockel