Just to the north is the Canyon Maze. No water, no edible brush and no shade to speak of, just heat and death. A few Coyotes make the edges of the Maze their home, but even they do not venture very deep into this snarl of twists and turns. When I was a kid, my Dad always told me to stay out unless I was with him or one of the hands. Too easy to get lost. Growing up on a cattle ranch and knowing how they wander, every year we made 2 trips into this waste land looking for strays. We always found a few, some so bad off we had to shoot them, some we could "nurse" out. But, we always found bones. All those years I enjoyed my trips into the Maze. Rough, rugged with a beauty of it's own, but deadly. Little did I know, that near the end, they would be my biggest problem. Dads gone and it's been a few years since I sold off the last of the cattle. A week ago I decided to take a ride into the Maze and have one last look before I sold the ranch. Took plenty of water and my GPS, didn't want to get lost at my age. On the 2nd day I found a small enclave that offered the only shade around. Loosened the saddle cinch on Black-Jack and put the hobbles on him. Didn't want him to wander off. I sat down on something hard, brushed the dirt and sand away and found part of a very weathered bridle. I dug around some more and found a empty canteen. Taking my trenching tool, I dug some more and found small pieces of cloth. I found pieces of rotted leather that at one time were saddle bags. Inside was some paper with writing, too faded to read. A small stub of a pencil, some coins from 1894 and 1897. I also found a oil cloth with what looked like petrified meat of some kind. Digging around some more was the biggest mistake I ever made, it was then that I found the gold. No it wasn't pure gold, it was ore. About 10 lbs of ore with gold running through it. So you say, whats the problem... Well no gold has ever been found in this area and the ore, the matrix, was from the Maze, and only from the Maze. I didn't find any bones of this man or his horse, maybe they got out? But why leave the money and gold behind? Maybe they didn't make it, maybe the bones were spread by coyotes. Now I sit at the table, looking at the ore. Heart full of dreams and a head full of the dangers and problems. Sell the ranch and lose the gold, or keep the ranch and look for the gold? The man who found the gold didn't find his way out of the Maze. Maybe I could do better? Maybe I could die like he did? Maybe I should sell the ranch? But then there is that gold......