Frontier of the Storm
Sit atop the multi-colored warm hues that are the rock formations of Coyote Buttes with me, and I’ll share a momentito of our first day hiking there…
Hiking and being in the desert is far from new to me, but it is a climate and experience I find superbly unique. The dryness of the desert we step and step and step in is exactly what you might imagine; DRY! In fact, as you desert dwellers already know, you can actually smell and feel the moisture when nearing it or it nears you. We had been smelling the rain of a storm approaching for several miles and a few hours as we gauged the scale of the storm on our horizon. The wind continued to build as more and more red sand and brush began to dance and take flight.
Feeling the shadow over our shoulders, we looked skyward to see the darkness reaching across our vivid blue and wispy clouded sky. The frontier of the storm grew just before us as the gurgling of the beast’s belly began to roar louder and louder as the encroaching brood extending its eclipse of the all the sun’s beaming.
As the late afternoon sky began to be consumed by the deep, dark swirling grey cutting out all the daylight, light still managed to reach underneath the cloud barrier and illuminate the earth. The sands, rock and plant life all emitted a glow from within to claim and retain its position in the visual chorus. A last gleam of appreciation before the sky opened up to rejuvenate the heat radiating desert below.
Hiking out in the desert gives me a renewed appreciation of what the the function of rain really is to our planet as a symbiotic whole. In the bustle of NYC, or anywhere for that matter, I can easily get wrapped up in the more day to day regimentation of "life on the go", and it's easy to take on a grumpier view of what a rain storm is /can be. Hiking, climbing, camping and sitting HERE I feel the moisture evaporate off my skin, eyes and the inside of my nose. I see the remaining visual ques of hygroscopic substances once dissolved in water that now appear as white rings on stone. The air and clouds swell and to the point of release, and I feel the storm soothe the radiating heat and quench the thirst time and temperature has been building. With every drop I am reminded of what a gift each is to everything around me.
I feel very lucky to have experienced this my entire life having been born a child of the Sun in Arizona, and whether I return to live here or not, I will always enjoy as much of my returning as possible...
