The Swan (2008)
Joshua Tree National Park, CA

You pretty much have to know where it is. It’s not near the road or any tourist parking lots. Instead you have to drive to the end of a dirt road and then schlep across a sandy wash for another ten minutes. My friend showed me where it was. He took me out there late one Saturday afternoon. And there it stood, gracefully arching into the clear blue desert sky. We got there just in time because in a few minutes the sun would drop behind the ridge. It’s important enough to be in the more thorough guide books. They call it ‘The Eagle’ but my friend’s name is much more descriptive, more apropos – “The Swan.”