Turn of the Screw

Snow and perspective disguise a low roll of dredged earth along Colorado Highway 9 between South Park City and Fairplay. Too big to be a roll of hay and too uniform to be natural, the track reminded me of those left by worms in the film version of Dune. Or maybe the tracks I think the worms should have left--it's been awhile since I watched the movie.

Layers of contrast attracted me to this scene: immense cloud-scattered sky; snowcapped peak in the background; dark concave line of the forested middle-ground serving as a frame to cup the peak and highlight the dredge line; and uniform traces of earth being folding up and over itself. At the base of the roll, like a long underscore, a fence suggests a retaining wall, inadequate in the shadow of the massive structures positioned behind it. The flat expanse of pasture stretching toward the camera is a small sample typical of the vast stretch of South Park.