RAIN! The GOOD The BAD And The UGLY

Rain, you know....liquid gold. I think most of us have heard that ugly word: drought, lived it and experienced it too. That is why, no matter how much rain we receive, it just never seems like it's enough. When the rest of the country was having terrible snow storms a couple of weeks ago., (we also received so much snow in the mountains that they had to close down the ski slopes) we were having rain....glorious rain. The picture above shows a paved walking and bike path that runs from our community, through the desert and into other communities. The path is approx. 5 miles round trip. This is what I do on a daily basis for exercise, I ride my bike. On both sides of this path is the Queen Creek Wash. This is where excess rain water travels from one place to another and crosses at this point from one side to the other.

Along the way, you pass this park with play ground equipment and grass. As you can see by the colored lines, this became a pond! We had inches of rain and the desert was full. It just could not drink anymore.

While riding, I often run into some friends. Bunnies, Jackrabbits, Quail and today, Ta Da, a Roadrunner decided to stop and allow me to take his picture.

This is a beautiful path to enjoy some time walking or riding. There is always something beautiful to catch the eye, but on this day, I saw the ugly side of too much rain. I saw the destruction that Mother Nature can unleash on the land. Water has a mind of it's own. It goes where it wants to go, not necessarily where you want it to. The wash was alive and flowed with a strong current, taking everything in it's way. It carved out the path it wanted to flow and created chaos as well as beauty.

The current eroded the soil, sweeping it and depositing it where it desired. What is left behind was ugly and in need of repair. The parks and recreation dept. takes care of the wash and the path. They have their work cut out for them, that's for sure.

Stone fences are down, resting areas are moved because the soil has disappeared.

A section of what was part of the path, is gone, crumbling due to erosion.

You can tell that the wash used to be level with the path. It was never straight across to the other side. The earth had been carved in and out, natural desert, beautiful, but the rain and the currents have carved out a new desert and a new path. I would have loved to have seen it when it was a it's fullest, wet with liquid gold.

Rain water still left, under the road, around a piling. We needed this moisture, I am not complaining, but I am left in awe of the power of running water and how it carves out the earth below.

Still today, you can see the earth can drink no more.

At the same time, you can't ignore the beauty that is left behind. Once a fairly flat surface, not a natural beauty of curves and lines. A gorgeous rippling of the desert dry bed.

It's like beautiful artwork.

I was captivated and had to stare, taking it all in, enjoying how the sun bounced off the curves, the shine of the silt and the shadows that were caught.

Oh yes, rain, we all need it, the earth needs it. There never seems to be enough of it, but as ugly as it can be, as powerful as it can get, it can also be more beautiful than you can imagine.