Naming the Land

Some of the most beautiful places in the desert and mountains of Southern California have names that suggest bad things have happened there: Horsethief Creek, Dead Indian Canyon, Devil’s Slide and Tahquitz, a demon in Cahuilla mythology.

Other beautiful places have been named for the people who have exploited the land – names of miners, loggers, cattlemen and developers.

Yesterday my wife and I hiked past an abandoned nameless dolomite mine, past Horsethief Creek to a place with a beautiful name – Cactus Spring.  When we arrived we found no evidence of a spring, no water, no lush vegetation, no cactus.  Maybe there is or was a hidden spring in that area, or maybe the name is or was an ironic, devilish joke.  Maybe the beautiful name was given to that area just because nothing bad ever happened there.

We need to make a new map and rename all the peaks and creeks and canyons and washes.  We are born of the land and will return to the land.  The land is good.