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Water
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Marble Canyon, AZ
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5 min
Where the Colorado turns
Above a river that took six million years to cut its way here.
Mile
561
From the bridge the river looks calm and green, but it is moving fast, and it has been doing this for about six million years.
Above the bend
We walked out along the canyon rim at Marble Canyon, where the river makes a slow turn between red walls. The only sound was wind, and now and then a raft crew shouting far below.
That night we camped by the water. The walls held the heat of the day for hours, and the stars came out in a thin strip between them.
A canyon is a river's diary, written one layer at a time.
Before you go
The rim has no rail. Stay on the marked trail, carry water and leave the rocks where they are.
Words and route by Wren Hollis
Joshua Tree, CA
8 min
The trees that keep time
Joshua trees grow about an inch a year. We sat with them until dark.
Amboy, CA
4 min
A sky with nothing in the way
No towns, no moon, and the Milky Way all the way down to the creosote.
Kingman, AZ
11 min
The last windmill on the ranch road
A fourth-generation rancher, a pump that still turns, and very little rain.
The Sunday Dispatch
Get the next stop on Sunday
One letter a week. Free, and easy to leave.