My search for the red buffalo rock art consumed 1½ days. It cost me the loss of my 16-foot whip and nearly the loss of my jacket—and camera tripod—while stranding me in the desert for several hours of the first night.
It was a little before noon of the first day when I arrived at the “jumping off” point. With camera, shoulder bag, tripod and water in tow, I started the trek. At some point well before sundown—and after exploring a couple of intersecting tributaries—I climbed above the riverbed. As the crow flies, I was probably within 3 to 4 miles of my car and having a thoroughly enjoyable time.
One of the more interesting finds was Sisyphus’ Stone (so named by me and pictured above). I had searched far and wide for that stone and here it was in the middle of Big Bend National Park!
What is that?
Glad you asked! In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was the famed founder of Corinth and something of a buccaneer (about which I feel all warm and fuzzy due to the verbiage of my business card). But back to Sisyphus: you see, the first time he was slated to die he cheated death and extended his life by a lengthy period of years (the number of which I’ve forgotten or never knew).
Of course his little escape came back to bite him in the proverbial south side whilst he was facing north. By this, I mean to say he was relegated to Hades where his punishment was to perpetually push a great stone up a hill only to suffer the aggravation of it rolling back down—an eternal punishment (that is preferable to an unending, fiery demise to which the Greeks didn’t subscribe in their mythology).
At any rate, this is the origin of the word Sisyphean in the context of a continual and typically ineffective effort (much like my hunt for the red buffalo).
Okay, so the boulder in the photograph above isn’t actually that of the Greek myth. But truly enough that is what crossed my mind when I found that huge thing (it is a few feet taller than me).
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