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The Dark Tower

Dawn near Tower Butte, a sandstone monolith that rises 1000 ft. above the desert floor on the Navajo Nation.

Peter Böhringer, Bill Bowman and I strapped on our backpacks and walked about a mile from the shores of Lake Powell to spend the night at a large, finely layered sandstone outcrop that Peter had scouted last May. For at least 3/4 of the hike, the ground was littered with mollusk shells, indicating how much the reservoir water had declined in the last decade or so. Had it been at full pool, our walk may have only been about 300-400 yards.

Hat tip to Robert Browning for the title ("What in the midst lay but the Tower itself?").

Larger and on black looks best.

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Uploaded on November 5, 2021
Taken on October 24, 2021