This English course really helped me develop as a writer. Professor Bennion really emphasized key points of delivering powerful and meaningful rhetoric. I really hope that I can have her as an instructor again, because her teaching styles align very well with how I want to teach. The homework assignments were relevant without being too excessive. Each assignment led up to one final essay. I’m really proud of my work in my final essay. I did many hours of research and draft after draft of revisions. I wanted it to be perfect. I really hope to be able to submit this writing to contest or publication. Everything I learned this semester is present in this essay. I am proud to publish on my site my final essay: Perfect Circumstance.
Perfect Circumstance
In the early spring, just before the first wave of consistently warm weather, I find myself yearning for the red rocks and curated trails unique to Moab, Utah. This year, that unquenchable desire hit early, around mid-March. I met my friends at the I-70 junction just north of Moab, each of them fresh to the new wonders that awaited due south. The Moab area is home to two national parks, over 2,000 natural arches, living soil, and some of the most technical mountain bike trails, hiking trails, and rock climbing walls in the world (Natural Arch and Bridge Society).
As we pulled into the tiny desert town in the middle of the red, rocky, dusty terrain, a few of my friends from back home asked if we would stop by their buddy’s house to haul a bike back to Salt Lake City for repair. This quick detour landed us in the front yard of a young Alabamian man, nicknamed ‘Bama. Bama had a look of true happiness in his face, as I’d imagine one might, living in such a beautiful town. He smelled like campfire and his clothes were lightly dusted in red dirt. Bama gave us the grand tour of his property: a camper perched inside of his truck, a touring Kawasaki motorbike, a mountain bike, an old film camera, a record player, and a box of records. Honestly, that’s about all that Bama owned, besides his trusty old Australian Shepherd, Larry. We learned that Bama had recently moved to Moab from Colorado Springs. He was a freelance photographer and wrote for a mountain biking magazine, and had moved to Moab to become a mountain bike tour guide. He and his wife were renting a room in Moab, though he hadn’t stayed indoors one night since he had arrived. We invited him to join us in camping that night to prolong his trend of sleeping under the stars. Bama happily obliged. We all hopped in our respective vehicles and headed northeast towards Dead Horse Point State Park.
Just before you reach the gate to enter the state park, there’s a turnoff that hits Potash Road. Potash is an old 4×4 mining road that stretches fifteen miles through public lands, giving miners access to the various oil rigs and mines scattered throughout the area (The American Southwest). A small, free, “leave only footprints” camping area is located atop the highest cliff off of Potash Road. The southernmost trail reaches all the way to a back entrance of Dead Horse Point State Park. We pulled into the dusty drive that marked the trail and set up camp. Then, we chased the sunset.
We followed the shadows to the very edge of the cliffs. We were standing at the edge of what looked like an inward peninsula. It was an “inny”, as Bama would say. We basked in the sunlight that bounced off of the walls of the cliff, as if to spotlight their timeless beauty. The cliffs were like history books. Layers upon layers of rock formed timelines in the ancient stone, each layer a historical piece of the Jurassic age. Below the surface, you could see the muddy orange rocks that make up the Moab Tongue. Below the Moab Tongue, compressed layers of sandstone and slick rock are visible (Foos, National Parks Service). The pure steepness of the cliffs made each wall seem as smooth as a sheet of paper. Arid conditions cause soil to be poorly developed. This causes the bedrock to be less dense. As erosion occurs, less dense rocks are the first to be washed out. Resistant sandstones and limestones form vertical cliffs, and the less resistant rocks form slopes. As the less resistant rocks are washed away, the vertical cliffs remain (National Parks Service).
I sat down as the sun dipped below the horizon and dangled my feet over the steep edge of the cliff, 2,000 feet above the gooseneck curve of the Colorado River (stateparks.gov). I let out a giant sigh, closed my eyes, and leaned back to rest my body in the desert sands. I was caught by an arm before my body could touch the ground. It was Bama’s. He pointed to a fuzzy, black patch of soil I almost laid my head on: Cryptobiotic soil, commonly referred to as crypto. Crypto is considered to be an endangered soil, due to the its fragility and the time it takes to develop. Crypto is so fragile, in fact, that a light grazing or a simple foot step can destroy decades of growth. Public lands are the perfect habitat for crypto to grow because of lack of foot traffic from people and animals. Crypto is a living soil, made up of lichens, algae, and moss. It appears in small black mounds on the surface of rocks. The crust of cryptobiotic soil has multiple roles. Crypto retains water for other plants living nearby, which is vital to the surrounding plant health in the desert. This fragile soil also protects the desert floor from wind erosion by holding the soils in place. It is also responsible for fixing atmospheric nitrogen, providing organic nutrients to plants growing nearby, and helps promote seed germination. Had I laid my head on the soft mound of the crypto, I could have destroyed years of growth. Disturbed soils could take 50 to 250 years of favorable conditions to regrow into fully functioning soils (Jane Belnap, soil ecologist). I sat up, drank in one more view, and carefully did the “crypto tiptoe” back to camp.
The next morning we awoke with the sun. Bama made us all coffee and eggs out of his camper and we crept back to the edge of the cliffs for one final view. We hugged Bama and patted Larry and waved as they set off for their day’s adventure of mountain bike trails. We had an adventure of our own planned for the day.
If you follow that same Potash Road all the way back into Moab, you will find a scenic road riddled with the most amazing rock formations, dinosaur tracks, and petroglyphs. Our mission for the day was to explore a piece of everything that Potash had to offer. We downed our breakfast and coffee, packed up camp, and set forth down the old 4×4 road. We reached the rock formations first. On top of a cliff, much less steep than that of Dead Horse Point, we made out a sign designating a trailhead. We pulled our vehicles up the cliff. The sign in front of the trailhead read “Bowtie and Corona Arch”. A map was posted, as well as a short description and a few photos of the magnificent rock formations.
We started down the two-mile trail to see the arches in person. The trail was long, sunny, and hot. Sunlight bounced off of every wall on the canyon, warming the rocky, red crevice. The trail was not an easy one. There were steep ladders and natural stair cases. Steep inclines winded us, and thin trails hugged the cliff walls. We were all tired and sweating by the time the first arch was in view. It was set back into the sloping rocks. I could almost see how erosion formed the arch. There was a hole in the top, which had once housed a large pool of water. Through the seasons, the water had slowly eroded through the rock to form a gaping hole at the top. The water that washed down the sides of the cliff had eroded the wall back to form a dip, creating an arch-like structure. Other hikers on the trail began to pass us as we stared in awe. Many of them attested that Corona Arch, or “Little Rainbow Bridge”, which was still about a mile down the trail, was much more impressive. As we approached Corona Arch we were floored by the size and structure of the rock. Corona Arch was named after a corona solar flare, because of their likeness in shape. Its opening was about 150 feet wide and the highest point of the arch was around 104 feet from the ground (DNR). None of us had seen any natural structure like it, and were floored by its grandness.
The public lands were measuring up to be more than what we could have ever imagined. Who knew that if you cared for the land and left behind only footprints you could enjoy a free piece of recreation that would change the way that you felt about life? The vastness of the arches could remind you of how small you are, and that your troubles are even smaller. The fragile crypto could remind you of your strength, and how temporary your problems are in comparison to some. The serene yin and yang of the desert and the perfect ecological harmony could remind you that circumstance may, indeed be cooperative with what we know as “fate”. This type of spiritual revelation reminds people that you don’t have to be “high” to go on a spiritual journey. There is an undiscovered part in every ecosystem on the Earth that can make you start to remember that the circumstance of life had to be just perfect to put you where you are now. These types of revelations are the connections that humans are missing with the Earth. These types of revelations put people back in touch with life, and what life is: perfect circumstance.
When I came home from that trip to Moab, I felt new. I felt like an illness had be washed out of me. I couldn’t get the arches and the soil out of my head. The land had been so perfectly undisturbed by humanity. I decided I wanted to learn more about Potash Road and the unique history and ecology of the land that surrounded it. As I searched through pages about arches, rock formations, soil, and the anthropology of the region, I was directed to a webpage about the richness of the public lands. Moab is oil rich. Oil well Cane Creek 12-1 produced between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels of oil in the first year of operation. Even today the oil flows to the surface without a pump. “After first year’s production, no other well onshore in the lower 48 states produced as much as that one well,” said Jayne Gates, Fidelity Exploration and Production’s asset team manager for the Paradox Basin.
As I read on, I learned that there are plans for more drilling on public lands in the Moab area, including in areas close to Dead Horse Point and the land that hosts Bowtie and Corona Arches. It is estimated that over 175 billion barrels of oil lie underneath the public lands. As of today, only 56% of the federally owned land in the U.S. in untapped by oil companies (Jayni Folei Hein). Legislation is in place to continue leasing out public lands for energy sourcing, including oil fracking and drilling (Bureau of Land Management).
I thought about Potash Road as I read. I wondered what would be disturbed by the vibrations of an oil rig. Airplanes are not even allowed to fly over Arches National Park to prevent the vibrations from destroying delicate arches that lie below. Wouldn’t the vibrations from drilling cause the rock formations to fall as well? Would Bowtie and Corona survive the constant vibration of drilling?
Vibrations from oil fracking can be felt through the ground from over seven hundred feet away (Energy From Shale). Would I have been able to center myself and feel more in touch with nature had I heard the drilling in the distance while chasing the sunset at Dead Horse Point? As I explored deeper, I thought about the fragile ecology of the desert. Environmentalists are worried about the chemical fluids used for fracking could escape from the wells and end up in nearby rivers. This alone would cause devastating impacts to the cryptobiotic soil. If the crypto goes extinct, would the rocks crumble due to the weakness of the desert soil (Judith Kohler)? Would Moab, a town that thrives on a tourist economy, slowly dilapidate into the dusty desert?
The proven dangers of fracking are real. Over six hundred dangerous chemicals are used in fracking fluid, including lead, uranium, and mercury. Over 8 million gallons of water, a scarce resource in the desert, are needed for fracking one well (Dangersoffracking.com). The water is pressurized through pipeline and forced down to shale layer of the earth. Vibrations from the pipes cause small fissures in the shale rock. During this process, methane gas and other toxic chemicals are leaked from the system, which contaminates nearby groundwater. This poses many threats to the region, including contaminating its water supply. There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination near fracking sites. Another recently confirmed threat with fracking is that is causes small earthquakes, which would have devastating impacts to the beautiful rock formations found along Potash Road. From 2009 to 2013, areas with increased fracking also saw an increase in small earthquakes. Between 1970 and 2008, there were a total of 21 earthquakes in the midwest. After the exposure to fracking, the earthquakes in the region spiked to 99. A spike in seismic activity in the Moab region would be devastating to the delicate arches that teeter on fragile rock (Reynard Loki).
As I fell in love with the desert, the government broke my heart. There are currently no studies in progress to identify how fracking will affect the Moab region. The risk is far too high for Moab, where 70% of the population relies on income from tourism-based jobs, derived from the beauty of the natural earth that surrounds the town (Public Lands Solutions). Since the oil boom in 2014, hikers have already reported two large oil spills in the Colorado River, which allowed contaminated water to flow into Green River. The source of this oil spill was only 50 miles north of the town of Moab. (Water Keeper Alliance). Will the government continue to let oil consumers poison the limited water supply in the Moab region? Fracking has been proven to cause earthquakes in the mid-west. The delicate arches surrounding Moab would crumble with the spike of seismic activity. Will the government just let these beautiful, natural structures crumble to the ground? That isn’t even the beginning of what is at stake. The fragile ecosystems surrounding Moab will be destroyed if we allow fracking in this area. Runoff from hydraulic drilling will poison cryptobiotic soils, the precious glue that holds together the entire ecology of the desert. The desert ecology thrives only with balance, and only with the perfect circumstances in place. When does the profit of oil become less important than the preservation of these crucial elements and their perfect circumstances? As much as we don’t want to believe it, this fact holds true: One day, we could impair these perfect circumstances because of negligence, because of greed, because of corruption; and we will destroy so much of our earth that the carnage of our planet cannot be reversed. Do not let Moab be the first to go.
Works Cited:
“Fracking and Earthquakes” Energyfromshale.org. Energy From Shale, 2016. Web. April 10, 2016.
“National Energy Initiatives” blm.gov, Bureau of Land Management. n.d. Web. April 9, 2016.
“Time is Now to Protect Moab’s Economy” publiclandsolutions.org, Public Lands Solutions, 2016. Web. April 14, 2016.
“Letting Sleeping Oil Deposits Lie” FacethefactsUSA.org, Face the Facts USA, October 11, 2012. Web. April 10, 2016.
Kohler, Judith. “How Oil Drilling Spills Are Threatening Our Public Lands, Wildlife, and Water” onegreenplanet.org, National Wildlife Federation. N.d. Web. March 25, 2016.
Foley Hein, Jayni. “Oil Companies Are Drilling on Public Lands For Less Than A Cup of Coffee. Here’s Why That Should Change.” Washington Post. Washington Post. June 16, 2015. Web. March 28, 2016.
Foos, Annabelle. “Geology of the Moab Region”. Nature.nps.org. National Parks Service. N.d. Web. March 10, 2016.
“Natural Arch Formation”. Naturalarches.org. Natural Arch and Bridge Society. N.d. Web. March 10, 2016.
Belnap, Jane. “Cryptobiotic Soils: Holding the Place in Place” U.S. Geological Surveys, Department of the Interior. 2015. Web. March 13, 2016.
“Discovering the Ancients”. discovermoab.com, DNR. n.d. Web. March 10, 2016.
“BLM’s Failure Pollutes Colorado River Water Supply With Oil”. Ecowatch.com, Water Keeper Alliance. May 30, 2014. Web. March 10, 2016.
Loki, Reynard “8 Dangerous Side Effects of Fracking That the Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know About”. Altnet.com, Alternet. April 28, 2015. Web. March 10, 2016.
“What Goes In and Out of Hydraulic Fracking?” dangersoffracking.com, Dangersoffracking.com. N.d. Web. April 28, 2016.