Ten Thousand Years

High above the creek on the mountain, the trail worker works diligently clearing a path for a trail.  During a lunch break the writer finds them self exploring the area they have cleared and possibly as a result of clearing the area they have unearthed pieces from a long ago history.  "Above Pate Valley" takes place in a mountain setting that has been through many different changes throughout its history from what i can gather from the poem.  The mountain valley has had native American inhabitants, was used possibly as a quarry or maybe a tunnel was dug from the evidence of pick axes and the scent of dynamite, and now, the mountain valley is now being transformed in to a recreation area by evidence of the trail building team.  I think that this poem is more of a look at the historical evidence of humans in nature rather than just the virgin beauty of nature by itself.  It is not doubt that humans have been apart of nature for thousands of years and in this poem it is evident by the writers observation and thinking of the history of the mountain valley.  The author speaks of nature in a tone that reflects not awe and beauty like that of Dillard but instead this individualistic journey that the author takes the reader on through this mountain area.  For example, "a land of fat summer deer, they came to camp.  On their own trails.  I followed my own trail here" (Snyder).  I feel as though that Dillard is almost trying to mimic nature in that she wants to be a part of it while Snyder has blazed his own path through nature and respects natures path but prefers to blaze his own path through the mountains also in real life with the building of a new trail in the mountains.    I like this poem, it defiantly makes me think about the Civilian Conservation Corps which was established in the 1930's as part of the New Deal program of FDR's administration.  This is the kind of poetry i could see in a CCC Camp's memorial or this poem really helped put words to their work.  What they did was basically put young men to work in the country building trails, parks, shelters, and ski slopes during the depression.  Initially it was to put the unemployed to work but it kept growing with the building of America's park system which is some of the best in the world.  This poem really made me think of that as well as the historical human side of nature which fascinates me.