Free Love Canyon

In the 1960’s a group of travelers stopped their journey within the canyon created by a long closed sulfur mine. Here amidst bubbling pools of low concentration sulfuric acid and the toxic reek of hydrogen sulfide they created a home for themselves.

A home to the original travelers no longer, I paid a visit to free love canyon. The structures that remained clung to the edges of the wasteland and forest like children scared to come out and play. The smell of hydrogen sulfide permeated everything, burning my eyes and throat. This industrial gas, deadly in higher concentrations, occurs naturally here; created by the sulfurous magma flowing close to the surface; visibly bubbling from the lifeless ponds.

As I wandered through the ghost town ominous clouds began to gather. The farther I got from the road the less damaged the buildings began to appear. As the breeze picked up the bleached bones of an elk swung on sharpened hooks.

I began to feel a distinct unease as I approached the last row of trailers. I felt the presence of a silent observer; the last inhabitant of this brutal landscape.

As the first drops of rain began to fall I quickly left the sulfur pits, the last inhabitant’s unseen eyes watching me leave, satisfied that the secrets remained hidden.