My apologies to everyone east of the Rockies suffering through droughts and heat waves, because apparently every drop of moisture in the country is being funneled directly into western Colorado. I’m supposedly in the desert, yet hardly a day has gone by that we haven’t seen rain in the last month. We even got caught in a hailstorm last week, which decided not to set in until we were good and far from the truck.

In between dodging hailstones, I’ve been spending the last month working on rangeland health assessment in and around Unaweep Canyon, near the town of Gateway by the Colorado-Utah border. Life has changed quite a bit since I’ve started working down here, since we’re now camped out in trailers four days a week for the next two months. It’s a really, really cool place, especially for geology geeks, because the canyon cuts down into Precambrian rock. It’s also highly unique because there’s a divide that causes water to flow out of opposite ends. This is by far the coolest place that I have worked in so far. The last two weeks we’ve worked our way out of the canyon bottom and gotten up on top of the surrounding mesas, which have offered some really incredible views. They’re also, shall I say, exciting places to work during a thunderstorm.

See you all next month, if I haven’t been struck by lightning!