Steep Trails

A vivid tapestry of the American West unfolds through a series of field notes that capture the raw, untamed beauty of places like Mount Shasta, the high deserts of Nevada, and the sheer cliffs of the Grand Canyon. The writer’s eye moves from soaring alpenglow on glacier‑capped peaks to the delicate sway of sego lilies in sun‑baked valleys, rendering each scene with the immediacy of a fresh discovery. These impressions, recorded in letters and journal entries, breathe life into the rugged terrain, letting listeners hear the wind through pine forests and feel the chill of a snow‑storm on a summit.

Beyond the scenery, the narrative wrestles with the clash between cultivated land and wild nature, questioning the relentless push to tame the landscape. Encounters with remote mining towns, indigenous harvests of pine nuts, and the lingering echo of forests now vanished invite reflection on a world in transition. Listeners are drawn into a thoughtful, lyrical meditation on wilderness that still resonates in today’s conversations about preservation.