Dipped in shadow the juniper's green leaves seem warm in the sunset. The sky is water-colored blue, dark fading to light blue on the horizon. I almost feel as if I can dive into the cool blue above -- water dripping from body to sizzle on sun-tanned rocks by the tree. But I enter into the shadow rocks, cool touch of sandstone in shade, the evening is coming, temperature dropping, reflecting the cold bright blue of sky. Clouds mist up from the gold-bathed rocks into the pale horizon, as if the sunburned ground is cooking the last bit of water dropped from some sad camper's spilt canteen.
This juniper, she grows near Delicate Arch. She's as delicate as the Arch itself, sensitive to the temperature's incline and decline, but strong enough to last through the desert's freezing cold nights.
Utah imagines being as glorious as New Mexico or Arizona -- possibly it is so, but I wouldn't know. I didn't go on this trip, and I didn't shoot this picture I describe. I don't know if someone had just risen from a pool to sprinkle those sun-tanned rocks with droplets of water, steaming mists towards the deep water blue sky above. For all I know, the photographer probably climbed a mountain just for this picture, sweating under the weight of her camera equipment -- a Canon AE-1 SLR, a tripod, several lenses including a telephoto one, plus a canteen of water, a blanket for resting, and something to eat -- all snugly shoved into a navy blue duffle bag on her back. And I know the photographer is female by her name -- Emily -- and maybe 30 minutes had gone by before she set up her equipment, finally having caught her breath and slowed pulse. Then, looking up to see the night arriving fast, quickly snapped several pictures breathlessly, hoping she didn't load the film incorrectly or angled the camera off-balance. The damn tripod would not level and she knew then that she should have bought the one $30 more expensive than this one.
But two weeks later, back in Berea, Kentucky, after having developed nine rolls of film from this trip, she discovers this gem: watercolored blue skies to pale horizons, misty clouds rising as steam, sunburned rock endlessly sunning, and a solitary juniper tree in dark green shadow, curved as if to bow, saying, "Welcome to Delicate Arch."
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