The absence of Water

By Harriet Fawcett
Cebolla Canyon

September 2, 2015

Driving up to where we intended on camping at Cebolla Canyon I couldn’t help questioning ‘This is the greenest desert I have ever seen but there is no water anywhere’ I was later told that there has been the most rainfall in 15 years which obviously explains the greenness. It was a strange feeling to be in a place with no water, being so accustomed to it back in England to see the Arroyo dried up and realizing the only water around was in my water bottle was quite a sad thought. I did a lot of hiking while I was at Cebolla Canyon; there was a lot of history to be immersed in with the historic homesteads, the petroglyphs and the earthworks to explore. A group of us went to explore the Earthwork created by Bill Zeedyk. It was designed to try and restore a natural flow of water in the arroyo, hoping to bring life back to the land and undo the damage humans have done by overgrazing. Spending some time there I got the sense that this was not an immediate fix, if a fix at all. The effects of the work won’t be apparent for many years, but it’s a wholesome feeling that this once neglected land is now being tendered to once again.