The Watcher of Seeley Creek

 Mark Jones’s distinctive head sculpture stands beside the road in the Seeley Creek area west of Redway. [Photo by Mark Jones]

One of the delights of traveling in a remote corner of the world is stumbling across unexpected acts of creativity. Down a country road, around a bend, or tucked beneath the trees, someone has left a little piece of wonder for the rest of us to discover.

In the Seeley Creek neighborhood west of Redway, that wonder takes the form of a giant carved head created by local artist Mark Jones. Rising from the landscape with its long nose and solemn expression, it evokes the famous moai of Easter Island—those mysterious stone figures that have fascinated people for generations.

Unlike its Pacific cousins, however, this sentinel belongs entirely to our hills. It  sits among the trees, watching over the creek staring impassively at those who happen to pass by.