Happy Mother’s Day, Mother Earth

Reflections

For 165 million years, dinosaurs roamed the earth. They went extinct about 65 million years ago. Most likely, a large meteorite, like the one which created Chicxulub crater in Mexico, caused their extinction. Many species of animals and plants did survive. The planet Earth recovered. Then, 300,000  years ago, in the last minute since the earth was formed, Homo Sapiens arrived, and here we are.

This past week, Jim and I have been exploring the great state of Utah. Mountain biking and hiking on magnificent high plains of slickrock domes, colorful mesas, along towering vertical cliff walls, has been awe inspiring. We have been rewarded with sweeping vistas of snow covered mountains and wide open valleys in every direction, mile after mile, climb after climb.

Riding on HyMesa, Moab, Utah

After another amazing day of bike riding and wondering under the arches sculpted by water and ice, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement over a period of 200 million years, we decided to follow a dirt road  out of the Arches National park. Only 4x4 vehicles with high clearance were recommended. “We got this!” I told Jim with confidence. We finished our last hike at 8 pm. There wasn’t much daylight left, so we drove into the sunset across Willow Flats toward BLM land. We were hoping to find a camp spot outside of the park boundary. After a few miles of rough road, as the light was fading, we found an ideal camp spot for the night. The wind was howling and we had the whole magnificent place to ourselves. We felt like modern Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, tucked away from the road. Alone in the high desert, we watched cottontail bunnies hopping around, and listened for coyote’s howling permeating the night. A common raven landed on a gnarled branch of a pinyon pine, tilting his head curiously, before spreading his shiny black wings, and effortlessly lifting off into the darkness. We had a feeling no one else would be so crazy to follow the road less traveled this late at night, so we slept peacefully, listening to the winds whistling through scrub oaks, pinion pines and wind stunted juniper trees.
The next morning we navigated an even more rough and challenging road. I decided to walk sections to help Jim find the best possible way over steep boulder drops. Oh, if looks could kill. I was afraid to meet Jim’s worried eyes behind the steering wheel. At one point the van was suspended in the air, only two wheels touching the ground. The van lurched upward over a steep, slick rock, like an excited stallion rearing up. Taking the dirt road was my idea. Jim was not happy with me, I could tell that much. I gave him thumbs up and a forced smile, when he managed through yet another rough section, and I quietly thanked God that nothing bad happened. All four wheels were still attached, only a few things were scattered around inside of the van. Monty, wedged between the front seats, seemed oblivious to all the action and excitement.

Camping in Arches National Park

Just as the road mellowed out a bit and we could finally exhale, we came across the sign for Willow Springs Dinosaur Tracksite. All three of us, Jim, Monty and I, happily jumped out of the van, stretching our stiff bodies, reeking of excitement and several days of no showers. Not knowing what to expect, we followed the ribbon of sandstone path and low and behold, we soon came across the unmistakable three-toed footprints of the human-size predator Therapod dinosaurs, petrified in solid sandstone. All footprints seemed to be running in a large herd (uncommon for them), away from something.

Maybe they were running away from…hmmm?

During late Jurassic period, the area was covered by a shallow sea. Perhaps a meteorite hit the earth nearby, causing a large tidal wave? There are a lot of mysterious questions why so many petrified footprints in close proximity to each other, stayed preserved for such a long period of time.

Therapod dinOsaur

What footprint do you want to leave for future generations?

You can't help but wonder about how much time passed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. You also can’t help and wonder how much impact humans have had, since we started making tools and taking a leap in development some 300,000 years ago. That was in Middle Stone Ages. We are the intelligent species, right? So we think, but only if we look at ourselves with our own limited, narrow-minded point of view. If we study, really study and try to understand animals and plants surviving in complete harmony with their environment without destroying it, we perhaps could learn something. They know they depend on the environment. Don’t we depend on it as well?

It makes me wonder, how intelligent are we?

 I love the glorious beauty and endless ingenuity of nature. I hope we can enjoy it for many, many more generations. I have children and grandchildren, and I want them to be able to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life in harmony on this Earth.

For this Mother’s Day, let’s all give our Mother Earth a giant collective hug and maybe, just maybe there is still time to save her and save ourselves from total destruction.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful mothers in the world.
May there be Peace, Love and Harmony for all! 

Just Don’t Look Up!