Lost Remuda Basin Necklace - Elk Sign

Damale Turquoise & Sterling Silver | 18½" – 20" Adjustable, wearable as a choker

Some places don't have trails. You just go.

The Lost Remuda Basin slopes down from the north face of the Maroon Bells — a cirque of 14,000' peaks deep in the Colorado Rockies. No marked paths. No people. Just scree fields, wildflower meadows, snowfield, and the kind of silence that makes you feel very small and very alive at the same time.

I'd been told that at elevation — closer to 13,000' — the big animals wouldn't be there. Imagine my surprise to find sign. 

Elk. Bears. Moose in the basin just over the ridge. I didn't see them all, but I knew they were there. Their sign was everywhere — tracks through the willows, scat scattered in bunches, trails pressed into the grass along the creek. We shared the creek and the scree and the wildflowers. We shared circuitous paths through willows emptying out into beaver-dammed ponds, as I made my way down toward Aspen, carrying something I couldn't quite name.

This necklace carries that same feeling.

The Damale Turquoise comes from a mine here in Nevada — and one of the mine owners is my neighbor. It doesn't get more direct-from-the-earth than that. The color is rich and grounded, set in sterling silver that lets the stone speak. Wear it long, wear it as a choker — it moves with you, the way a good trail does.

This is a one-of-a-kind piece. When it's gone, it's gone.

• Stone: Damale Turquoise (Nevada)
• Setting: Sterling silver
• Length: 18½" – 20" adjustable; wearable as a choker
• One of a kind — handcrafted in Nevada