Writers Workshop
Good old U.S. 50 is a great alternative to cross the Colorado Rockies rather than the mind-numbing Interstate 70 where “no stopping any time” signs accompany you to the designated stopping points for a view. I was standing on the continental divide in the Colorado Rockies. Monarch Pass (11,3112’ elevation). On a convenient forest road, I had gone a short distance off the highway to absorb the beauty of the spot.
A large wet meadow area straddles the divide, which is clearly visible as a gentle slope dropping east and west from the ridgeline. The dual slopes from the peak quickly steepen as they head their separate ways. A few feet from the top on both sides, the wet meadow produced a spring of water. Clearly visible a few hundred feet either way is the beginning of small streams tumbling down the mountain. What a great spot! These small springs produced water that would flow east to the Atlantic and west to the Pacific. For a fun interlude I pulled out the maps I always carry on my cross-country trips and traced the routes my two little springs started. To the west, the small stream drops and meets a larger creek, “Tomeihi”, which joints another larger creek to form the Gunnison River. The Gunnison flows west then northwest to meet the Colorado River at Grand Junction, approximately 150 miles from my boots. From there the mighty Colorado flows southwest, past Moab across beautiful mesa and Canyonlands through spectacular scenery. Glen Canyon then across the top of Arizona through Grand Canyon. Turning south close enough to see the lights of Las Vegas, Nevada at night. It flows down through the deserts, forming the border of California and Arizona. Entering Mexico and ending at the Golfo de California 1,500 miles later. A tongue of the Pacific Ocean, separating the Mexican mainland from the Baja Peninsula. Many millions in the southwest rely on this flow for water. Looking east, a much steeper elevation drop has my little stream joining the Arkansas River only 20 miles below, near its headwaters. A much longer route ensues. The Arkansas flows down out of the Colorado Rockies through Pueblo to start a long journey across the Great Plains. Crossing eastern Colorado, it meanders across Kansas, through Dodge City and Wichita. From here, it drops south to cross the northwest corner of Oklahoma through Tulsa to where it crosses into its namesake state, Arkansas at Ft. Smith. Gaining water from the many springs of the Ozark Mountains, it crosses Arkansas, passing through Little Rock and Pine Bluff to meet the greatest river in America, the Mississippi. Fittingly, the Arkansas River meets the Mississippi River at the border of the states of Arkansas and Mississippi, 1,500 miles from our mountain meadow. From this junction our mountain spring water still must travel 600 miles down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans, 2,000 miles from the mountain top meadow. Back on the Monarch Pass from my imagined water journeys, I dip my cup in the icy cold spring water on each side of the Great Divide for a refreshing drink. There are still small patches of snow in the dark shady spots. Just for fun, I take a cup from the east spring and dump it on the west side and a cup from the west side and spill it on the east side, so each spring could travel and see for itself what happens on the other side of the Continental Divide. The lesson here is that on our water planet, all of the water is connected—not only from lakes and rivers running into the ocean but also from the water in the atmosphere. Evaporation pumps water into the air we live in to return as rain, snow, fog and morning dew. Nowhere on Earth has a humidity level of zero percent. The air we breathe contains water vapor. We lived in water before we emerged from our mothers. We are breathing water with every breath. Just like a fish, we are living in a fluid which has currents you can feel, we call ‘wind.’
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