The Weather Notebook: Heat Writer

Heat Writer
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Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook.

The El Camino Del Diablo, or Devils Highway, earned its name in the 1800s when hundreds of Mexican immigrants perished of thirst while following it to the California gold fields Today, only about a hundred miles of the unpaved road survives. It stretches through the Sonoran desert zone of Arizona on the edge of the U.S. Mexico border. Temperatures there can reach well above 120 degrees in the summertime. For writer Charles Bowden, the harsh and unforgiving environment bordering this road is a source of inspiration. With assistance from correspondent Jeff Rice, Bowden, offers these meditations on heat while camping along this trail last August.

"I've been out here when it's hit 125, and at 125 if you had to walk a mile you're considered life-threatening. I mean, it's such a strain on your system which is trying to stay at 98.6. So, you got to sit here, guzzling water, sitting in 109, 110 degrees, but I'm OK 'cause I'm not moving. If you move you pay".

"I've stood in valleys in June when It's been 115 degrees and there's no one there and all the insects have gone underground, died or fled and the birds don't fly through the sky until dusk and you hear this sound, this thumping, and you whip around and you think, Is somebody here? Then you realize, for the first time since you've been on Earth, your hearing your body, your blood, your heart".

Journalist Charles Bowden is the author of more than 15 books. Today's music is courtesy of composer, Steve Roach.