So this is the middle. The year before you are born. In June of 1976, the Jeffrey pine on the summit of Sentinel begins to wither. Park rangers and tourists carry buckets of water to the summit slab to bathe the trunk and roots. But the tree does not survive. After 400 years of living as a scrag penitent, the Jeffrey pine dies in the heat of the next summer, a summer of no water. The six spring streams underneath the Arches become one. Then none. Mirror Lake disappears. Finally the Great Yosemite Falls dries up, and there is no Lower or Upper Falls. Coyotes steal water from the Camp 4 bathrooms, edging past people like domesticated dogs. Nervous, they drink from the slew behind the lodges. Gulp algae and mosquito larvae, vomit on the Falls path. The coyotes weave the Loop Road and stagger through the campgrounds. They are labeled as “overly social.” Two coyotes per week are euthanized by Predation Control officers, and the population does not stabilize for twenty years. The blade of a knife.
What do You think about Graphic The Valley (2013)?
