Breadcrumb #548

NATE WAGGONER

Death Valley exists because of a cycle created by low depths and high mountain walls that bake the place like a furnace or an oven. The heat just keeps coming, keeps cycling around. Dante’s View. Hell’s Gate. Devil’s Golf Course. The mood of the place does not invite subtlety. Dante’s View is of the depths of the place, of rivers that seem to sparkle and shine, but which do so because they are so full of salt. The salt keeps going down, down, and covering everything, too. Sometimes at night the ground will freeze. The water will start to break up and rocks will appear to move on their own. Despite these surreal qualities, there are people who have chosen to live here for generations. It’s only gotten more inhospitable over time. 10,000 years ago there was life, deer, water, different tribes. Now only the salt rules. It makes the water undrinkable, but the water does shelter certain snails. There is nothing you can’t get used to with enough time. The salt, like the heat, is part of a cycle that only makes it build up. If you’re here, you’re being cooked alive. Sensitive crystals. See the pupfish floundering in its salty home. One of the highest mutation rates. An entity like this must be joking.

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