COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. We once drove through Walsenburg with a geologist named Brian Penn, passing gas stations and discount stores and fast food chains when suddenly Penn veered his Ford Ranger to the side of the road and stopped.
The road cut through rock on either side. One might’ve called it a very minor, unremarkable canyon, a slight outcrop worthy of no admiration here in drive-by southern Colorado. Not Penn.
“Look at this!” he remarked, leading us up the hill.
