today

is walt's birthday...










WALTER EARL COTTEN

1947 - 2008

friend

photographer

lover of wide open space

we miss you






( walt's boots - michael sanders )

you are here

and i believed it.






there was a place on the map

called kodachrome basin

and i thought about the photographs

and all the things you taught me


"you have to wait for the light beth"

that is what you would always say...







we had waited a year

to say our goodbye.

the road was difficult.

he always liked best

those places most remote and silent...






on the way there

i saw him in the clouds

and felt good to have his company









the invitation read...

"the family will be scattering his ashes at his favourite time of day

when the sun is even with the horizon.

we will eat, drink, and read from his favourite writers,

listen to his favourite music

and tell stories...

getting to muley isn't easy,

Mexican Hat is the nearest town.

camping is very rustic

no toilets

no water

and temperatures that reach 100 or above..."









“We need the possibility of escape as surely a we need hope.”

( Edward Abbey, Desert Solitude )










potholes and switchbacks

red dirt and hot sun

you might say the road to muley

was just like him

hard to navigate

but full of adventure









he had informed my aesthetic in a way

where i couldn't turn back

once i saw the sun set on that horizon line


but the road was never easy...












there were his girls of course






all there

to say goodbye








about this time every year








we start thinking about the ghost trail


and how you can carry on missing someone...


just like it was yesterday.



( photos by michael byrne, lourdes gomez, beth nelson, walt cotten, jeffery bishop )