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I went out exploring alone during our great December rain. In the light rain I walked head down, until I was
stopped by an uncrossable torrent of flood water. Standing by its edge I could hear rocks grinding together
by Aaron Leifheit
underwater as they were pushed further downhill. It was a scene meant only for wild eyes,
awoke a few months ago to an unexpected downpour outside my Las Vegas window. When I got to work at Red taking place under the curtain of clouds and rain.
Rock Canyon, the storm was washing rocks over the road and I was regretting my habit of neglecting my windshield
wipers. Seven days later, the rain stopped. Approaching the newborn river and peering through
the mist and branches was like looking inside
Large storms are rare in Red Rock Canyon and Las Vegas. This is because the the engine of a great living factory: pumping
towering Sierra Nevada Mountains lie directly to our west and these barriers out energy and organisms into places
block rain clouds from reaching us. Lying near the base of the nation’s largest unseen, scouring, cleansing and
mountains also puts us right in the middle of the country’s hottest and driest renewing the landscape, fueling a
desert which means we only receive a scant 4.5 inches of rain a year. This beautiful but almost incomprehensible
highlights a key fact about life in the desert: Southern Nevada is a region defined natural machine. I suddenly felt
by weather and the weather is defined by rain. self-conscious standing there as if I had
pulled back a curtain to look into the
Streams, springs and ponds are so common in most parts of the country that they inner workings of the earth.
are taken for granted. Here they are rare, and by their rarity become special. A
muddy slough in the desert becomes Mississippian in stature! A dusting of snow becomes Antarctic in ferocity! A The torrent of water rushed past me,
common sprinkle is enough to bring all ages outside, sandal clad, to stare at the few puffy clouds in the blue sky. following its natural course downhill. It
was destined to flow through the city to
Once the rare rain falls, it settles into the mountains, seeping slowly downward, finally emerging years later through a Lake Mead, then on to the Colorado
spring. That slow downward percolation also ensures that stored water will continue to flow even in dry times. Desert River before returning to the Pacific
springs are survivors and their hidden permanence means that life will continue here, under the harsh sun, for the Ocean. From the ocean it would
foreseeable future. eventually evaporate back in the clouds
Lush, green, quiet, alive, it seemed to be the completing a small part of a planet-wide
pulsing lifeblood of the desert. A cycle.
tiny trickle of water, barely visible, was the
hidden thread that held together and We are part of this natural cycle as we,
sustained a whole community of living and our societies, are also characterized
things. Springs seem to contain power not by our relationship to water. This is why
related to their size. Red Rock Canyon is most important. Here we can see the earth scoured bare, see where our water comes from
and where it goes, and see how little of it there actually is. The Canyon is a great reminder not only of the power
This hidden power of water was on full of water but also of our reliance on it and our need to use it wisely. By protecting places like Red Rock, we are
display in mid-December. Five inches of not only protecting the environment, we are protecting ourselves.
rain fell, more than the Mojave Desert’s
yearly average. It saturated the soil, formed The washes were dry a few days after the big storms. But was the rain really gone? I wasn’t sure, but I replaced
puddles and ran together into greater and greater streams until waterfalls cascaded from every high spot in the canyon. my windshield wipers anyway.
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