My brother, Terry, recently brought my attention back to a 25 mile stretch of highway, U.S. Route 550, from Silverton, CO, to Ouray, CO, that I traveled and photographed in the Fall of 2012.  The name, Million Dollar Highway, refers to the rumored cost of $1,000,000 per mile to build it in the 1920’s when a dollar bought a lot more than it does now.  https://thenatureseeker.com/million-dollar-highway/

The route was originally surveyed and built as a wagon road in the 1880’s to carry incredibly rich silver ore from the Yankee Girl Mine located on the north slope of Red Mountain down to the smelter.  While narrow gauge railroads were built to serve mines all over the Colorado Rockies in the late 19th century, defying gravity and the elements to extract gold and silver, the geography surrounding the Yankee Girl defied the best railroad surveyors and engineers of the day and no tracks were ever laid

I drove the high altitude 25 mile stretch, 11,000 ft. at the highest, from Silverton to Ouray behind a Colorado Highway Patrol cruiser, keeping me from being overly aggressive.  The speed limit was, and no doubt still is, 25 mph because of the steep grades and narrow pavement with no guardrails.  [All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]

Where to go?  Toward an expansive horizon is always my first choice.  In the case of Chaco Canyon Road, the southern exit from Chaco Culture National Historic Park, it was 40+ miles of dirt road across the Navajo Reservation with the warning sign declaring, “Road not maintained, may be impassable to passenger cars.”  There are no structures, no signs of habitation the length of that road.  There are steep drops into and out of arroyos that flood with cloudbursts, as well as deeply rutted mud slumps that require 4WD to cross even in dry weather.  There are no guarantees.  But being alone with the unknown is a great way to get to know yourself.    [Photo Max Vollmer, Click on image to enlarge]

I was invited by my daughter Yukyo (Emily) to join a potluck at Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland on December 26.  There was a catch.  Delicious vegan dishes were shared by the dozen or so monastery members plus myself, but then we went to work shelling, by hand, three or four bushels of dried corn  from the monastery gardens.  It will ultimately be ground into cornmeal for polenta and other dishes.  We also shelled several varieties of dried beans for monastery meals over winter.   [Photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]

Besides shelling corn, I ground one of the corn varieties into corn meal using a hand crank grinder.  Two passes through the grinder did the job.  Needless to say there are machines that will do this, but the meal was worth working for.

[Photo Max Vollmer, Click on image to enlarge]

I took the photo in August, but today I walked the Willamette River Trail from Skinner Butte to this spot and beyond in 60 degree weather and full sun.   The message is  as clear as ever.  [Photo Max Vollmer, Click on image to enlarge]