Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-229).

"Craig Childs has walked thousands of miles, season after season, into the desert looking for a wildness few people ever witness. In places that should have only desolation and waterless death, in seas of sand dunes and snow-swept high deserts, Childs has discovered an infinitely powerful grace. In the labyrinthine slots and walls within the Grand Canyon, he maps an improbably course toward a chute rumored to be an ancient shortcut through impassable cliffs.

Days into a fractured-rock Utah moonscape, he observes a prehistoric snake that has been carved into stone; the solstice sunrise places light in the snake's eye. Wherever he treks, the author happens on the pots, baskets, and ancient abandoned cities of those who lived there before; he uses the remains of these vanished cultures as compass points to find his way. From the Sierra Madre mountains in Northern Mexico to the canyons of Utah and a deserted island in the Sea or Cortes, Craig Childs returns with stories of adventure. He has been touched in the deepest personal place by fierce lands and he has found the wisdom of refuge and beauty.

In this much-awaited follow up to The Secret Knowledge of Water, Craig Childs confirms his reputation as one of America's most important nature writers."--BOOK JACKET.

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