80 SACRED PLACES I n some ways this has been an unusual project. Normally my work involves long treks or slow journeys by raft, canoe, or kayak into the heart of remote wildernesses. When working on Sacred Places, however, I was often quite close to civilisation or at least had access to it via a jeep trail or lonely blacktop. Logistically that made things easier: carrying all my camping and painting equipment, food and water, and a fifty-four-inch drawing board is certainly more convenient in a truck than in a backpack. The difficulty came in resisting the offers of warm hospitality in the homes of friends—meals eaten in convivial company at a table with a knife and fork rather than sitting on a rock eating with a spoon out of a foil bag. Most of the time I stuck to my guns, but there were times—when ice crystals were blowing across a frozen landscape or rain and wind were furiously lashing my tent—when I gave in and paid my friends a visit. In this context I would like to thank Michael and Leslie Engl, Pam and John Frazier, Carol Haralson and Ed Wade, Greer Price and Sarah Stebbins, and Bill and Annie Vanderbilt. They all listened to my moaning with apparent sympathy; fed me; gave me wise counsel, knowledgeable advice, and reassurance; and sent me back on the trail refreshed. Acknowledgments Not all my friends stayed in their comfort zones. The journeys on Mount Hesperus and Mount Humphreys were the last I ever undertook with my great friend and most stalwart companion, Bill Brace, chairman emeritus in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT. We had many adven- tures during thirty years of traveling together in diverse locations: deserts, rainforests, mountains, and canyons. Bill died in 2012, at the age of eighty-six. While painting Mount Hesperus, we were joined by Mark Perrin and Russ Jorden. Bill McDorman and Belle Starr camped with me on three adventures. Kurt Ohms saved me from several miserable nights on Mount Blanca. The San Juan River journey was a long-term project of Jane Woodward’s. Coordination of the complex itineraries was impeccably undertaken by Tonia Boeye. Led by Paul McCloskey and Ethan Johnson, Jane and I were joined by a relentlessly upbeat bunch of fun-loving women: Edie Barschi, Christa Gannon, Holly Haley Knapp, Donna Mosely, Peggy Propp, Sandra Cavanah Tucher, Barb Windham, and Amy Worth. The logistics of the eight-day raft trip were faultlessly managed by Kristen McKinnon, who subsequently was a great source of help and advice (and a picnic!) when I was working at Muley Point and Comb Ridge.
