Seltzer that I drank for lunch when working at Pratt Cabin. This is the view from the back porch while sitting on the rocking chairs!
Most of what I find littered throughout parks are plastic water bottles and aluminum cans. Because recycling is complicated and expensive here, I've been trying to paint little mini scenes on the cans I find on the trails AND produce myself. Sometimes, when I'm roving, I take a can of seltzer with me for lunch on my hike. Once I make it to a nice picnic spot, I get to enjoy the seltzer and then flatten it to paint on (see pic on right)! I really love how painting on these cans and just on found objects in general tells more about the journey that lead the hiker to that place. What was the scenario? Did they victoriously make it to a peak and throw their hands up in the triumph of the moment only to realize they were loosely holding their water bottle when all of a sudden a huge gust of winds knocks it out of their hands and their heart breaks as they watch it float like a feather down the cliffside, completely out of reach!?!?? Maybe. The water bottle pictured directly below was found about 20 feet away from the trailhead out of Pine Springs Campground. TWENTY FEET! You just hiked 8+ miles and you can't walk a few more steps to the recycling bin??? APPARENTLY NOT! That's okay though (but not really) because I got to make a sweet painting on it.
Water bottle left behind on the Pine Springs Campground trailhead 20 feet from a recycling bin. NOW depicting Hunter's peak
Seltzer can that I drank while working at the McKittrick contact station. This is the view that I had while guzzling down that refreshing beverage!
The open skies here have my heart forever and ever.