In the Painted Desert of Arizona, April 2018
From east to west, our country presents a beautiful array of landforms and ecosystems. After crossing the Mississippi River, travelers head gradually uphill until the Continental Divide. Through the High Plains the world gets dryer, and soon travelers are rolling across vast expanses of desert. Along I40-west the country turns dry in the Texas Panhandle, then dryer still through New Mexico and Arizona. On a first crossing, the biggest impression may be poverty, especially if poverty means lacking. There is little of everything except dirt, brush, rocks, and views of landforms. After a few crossings, however, the deserts offer an enchantment that grows with each visit.
In the last post I wrote about the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and the Navajo Reservation. Since then we traveled along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, through Las Vegas, up the western side of Nevada to Reno, and finally to Lake Tahoe.
The Grand Canyon is one of the great natural features of the U.S. The Park Service and other agencies maintain a road along a portion of the South Rim, and this is the most visited part of the Park—people can take in magnificent views by stopping at the vista points and standing on the rim. You hear many languages spoken at these vistas indicating visitors from many parts of the world. The road traverses maybe a quarter of the total South Rim. No similar road guides people on the North Rim. Therefore much of the Park is difficult to access, and people can spend years exploring it.
Younger or more fit persons can hike any of the many trails at the Canyon and descend to the Colorado River, an elevation change of about a mile. What goes down must come up, so a total hike involves about 2 miles of elevation change and at least a few days.
A one-day drive was sufficient for us.
We drove through Las Vegas, skipping the casinos, and stayed in a motel on the north side of town. The next day we cruised through the vast deserts along US95. Christ spent time in the desert, and we can see why. It’s remote and largely silent, and if we wander off the road and over a hill, where the sights and sounds of highway life vanish, we enter a wilderness that starkly confronts our modernness. It features extreme temperatures, little wildlife, no water, and a relentless sun. It’s a good place to meet our God and deepen our faith: a place to be awake, quiet, and alone, and maybe a little afraid.
On this trip we stuck to the road and only imagined what might lie beyond.
In Reno we spent the night with Dave and Pam, old friends from High School. They are always gracious hosts, and we had a great time rehashing the years gone by. No photos of them now, but we’ll have several before this trip is complete. The next day we crossed the Sierra Nevada crest to enter the Lake Tahoe basin, where we plan to live for two months.
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