White Sands National Monument

By Rachel Zollinger

White Sands National Monument, NM

October 26, 2016

This place occupies an odd intersection of worlds: geologic wonder, niche ecosystem, missile range, national monument. All of these identifiers are conspicuously present in the landscape. The stark white gypsum sand, run through with the tracks of the few animals that make their homes here, the roar of aircraft flying above, the plowed and flattened parking areas dotted with funny picnic table shelters. The stillness that marks a desert is broken by the laughter and cheers of the tourists who pilgrimage here to slide down the soft sand.

Water in the Desert

By Rachel Zollinger

Big Bend State Park, TX

October 23, 2016

Check out her video at https://youtu.be/MQr1NGbq-xM

Wind

By Rachel Zollinger

Marfa, TX

October 20, 2016

Photo caption: Molly and Annie move with the wind.

2 am the wind started. 5 am everything in my tent was covered in a thick layer of dirt. 9 am we realized it was easier to move with the wind than fight it, like an inflatable wacky wavy tube person.

Detritus

By Rachel Zollinger

Gila, NM

October 13, 2016

Turkey Creek dries up before its confluence with the Gila River. Stacks and piles of sticks, logs, whole trees are caught up on trees standing dozens of feet away from the gently flowing shallow creek. It seems impossible that this trickle ever held the capacity to rise so far above its bed and carry such big, heavy objects, wedging them so tightly only decomposition will remove them.

Tree Improvement

By Rachel Zollinger

Valle Vidal

October 2, 2016

NEW MEXICO

STATE FORESTRY

TREE IMPROVEMENT

PARENT SELECTION

STAND NO._____

TREE NO._____

T.___ R.___ SEC.___

IF THIS TREE IS IN DANGER

NOTIFY: STATE FORESTRY

OR

MORA RESEARCH CENTER

Rock Hopping and Otter Spotting

By Rachel Zollinger

Valle Vidal

September 26, 2016

Bare feet are preferable to shoes

Take care not to break a spider’s web

Watch for snakes

Watch for sandhill cranes

Watch for leaping trout

Rocks are hot but the water is cold

Put the camera in a dry bag

The current is swifter than it appears

Don’t bother with the camera, just watch the otter

Christmas Trees on the Horizon

By Rachel Zollinger

Four Corners

September 20,

Day with fractivist Daniel Tso on a tour around the checkerboard area along Hwy 550. He shows us maps, contracts, pumps, wells, drill sites, tanks, pipelines. We come across a young couple and their son returning to their home to collect their belongings after the nearby wells exploded in June and they were forced to evacuate. Daniel points out the “haves” and “have-nots” properties; he tells us stories of this fractured community. We end at a newly drilled well with the burn off fire blazing in the late afternoon light. To the southwest, Fajada Butte stands guard over Chaco Culture National Historic Park.

https://www.facebook.com/doodafracking.nn/

Page, Arizona

By Rachel Zollinger

Glen Canyon Dam

September 11, 2016

Page, Arizona is a strange place. I suppose I already knew that but still I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock, quickly followed by annoyance, upon entering SafeWay after days in the Utah desert. After a not so brief sojourn in the bathroom line, Molly, Hamshya and I escaped the frigid AC to the parking lot. We pondered the steady traffic of RVs, trucks hauling boats, tour buses toting retirees and the occasional oversize load of houseboat on a flatbed trailer, all converging to recreate on this lake in the desert. We visited Horseshoe Bend the next day and observed the intrepid vacationers in the delicate balance of quest for the perfect selfie shot and seemingly near oblivion of the cliff edge.

Muley Tracks

By Rachel Zollinger
Muley Point
September 8, 2016

I’ve been recording my journeys around the mesa with GPS. There’s no real trails, save a few roads and old tire tracks, so my routes mostly follow the cliff edges, but veer off as I sidestep rock piles and gaps or spot interesting tinajas. Our third day at Muley, I found a large tinaja, or really, the space between seams in the giant blocks of sandstone. The water level was low and revealed a long, sculpted, meandering line in the black stained rock. It struck me how similar this line was to my plotted GPS routes, so I took out a red pastel and traced it. At the end of the line, I wanted the journey to continue, but it petered out into flat sandstone. I wonder how long the evidence of this little journey of mine will remain visible, and if anybody will puzzle over it.

Baby Rio Grande

By Rachel Zollinger
Headwaters
September 3, 2016

Hollis and I made it to the Rio Grande headwaters today. 20 miles and worth every step. After miles of forest road we turned off and followed the small stream, the Rio Grande, through marshland up to the rocky slope beneath Canby Mountain. There the water simply emerged from the rocks, beginning a calm descent down the mountain. Baby water, Hollis called it. We collected a little bit of water in bag and climbed over the ridge to the next spectacular valley toward Silverton. Below us was small stream leading to pools. We hiked down and released Rio Grande water into this tiny tributary of the Colorado River. There you are, California, your share of our water.

I have walked many miles to many beautiful places, but rarely have felt such significance as seeing the birthplace of the mighty river that defines the place I call home.

Making Water

By Rachel Zollinger

Albuquerque

August 30, 2016

Scott Salvas, chief engineer of surface water, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, says (in passing), “I make water.” How strange to think about, making water. As if our planet’s closed hydrologic system is something from which we can add or subtract. We followed the path of the 84 million gallons a day that pass from the river through the treatment plant, from diversion, to coagulation and flocculation, to ozonation, to carbon filtration, and out to the city. We drank from the water fountain in the lobby of the treatment plant. It tasted fresh and clear, hardly resembling the muddy, turbid river we watched a couple hours before. I suppose water can be made.