Dirt Roads to Perspective: How Nature Reminds Us What Really Matters
By David Wade
The view from our first successful Dinosaur footprints location at Black Mesa, Oklahoma.
Good Morning Gentle Giants
Through the window of our rooftop tent, I can see early morning beams of sunlight filtering through a thick forest of massive cottonwood trees. Streams of golden light illuminate what looks like snow. Climbing down the tent ladder I notice that half a dozen wild turkeys are searching for breakfast, they show no interest in me.
I reach out and capture one of these lazily falling flakes and realize that this isn’t snow, it’s a blanketing of allergens; a memento from our oversized timbered hosts. I guess these hundred-year-old trees wanted us to have a parting gift. I’d better break out the allergy pills.
Ancient Footprints
“Look at this one!” Tiffany said. My wife and I had spent the last 15 minutes exploring dinosaur footprints in the Black Mesa area of Oklahoma’s panhandle. Dozens of ancient impressions show that this area had once been occupied by sizeable inhabitants. We spent hours traveling from one site to another, like enamored children lucky enough to have multiple Easter egg hunts in a single day.
We found these areas from online articles and posts by those who had been here before. “How old do you think these are?” I wondered aloud. With a single bar of cell service, Tiffany did a quick search and looked stunned, “Roughly 150 million years old,” she said. “Wow” I responded. “Yeah,” she said, “wow!”
Entering New Mexico via the Oklahoma panhandle you quickly find yourself in volcanic plains that span as far as the eye can see.
Dust in The Wind
This is day 31 of our cross-country trip. We’re roughly half way through a coast-to-coast overlanding adventure on the dirt roads of the Transamerica Trail. A month ago, we were leaving the beach in Nag’s Head, North Carolina. In less than a month, we’ll be on the beach in Port Orford, Washington. Today, we’re leaving Oklahoma and headed to the Capulin Volcano National Monument in NW New Mexico, one of our favorite stops.
We’ve noticed that as we travel, we don’t always remember that landscapes are not measured in years or even centuries, but in eons. What we see today has been here long before us and will be here long after us. Being in nature helps us imagine the scale and scope of a larger reality. It shrinks the challenges of the day by contrasting them with time; diluting them in a seemingly endless ocean.
The wild outdoors has a way of drawing our attention away from ourselves. Trees, volcanos and ancient footprints are just the beginning of awe-inspiring things to be found out here. Somehow, finding them brings us a sense of awe and peace; a state that naturally leads to relaxation and feelings of joy. Who couldn’t use more of that?
A Hole in The Sky
The 2-mile scenic drive up Capulin is a spiral shaped road that hugs the volcano on the driver side while passengers get a hundred-mile view to the horizon. At the top, three special treats await. First, the volcano sits some 1,300 feet above the plain creating an unimpeded view all the way to the snowcapped Sangre de Cristo mountain range of south Colorado. Second, the 1-mile-long Crater Rim Trail encircles the top delivering an unforgettable hike and, finally, a trail leads 400 feet down into the caldera for a once in a lifetime experience.
Chuckling, I realize that this caldera is a giant hole in the ground that sits more than a thousand feet above the surrounding plains; it is literally a, “hole,” in the sky. Some 60,000 years ago, when Capulin erupted, this place was literally hell on earth. Today, it’s a spectacularly beautiful place that stirs thoughts and feelings in us that we can’t fully explain. Another parting gift I suppose.
The hike into Caupulin’s caldera was windy and Boomer’s ears looked like sails at times.
Get Out There
We spent 57 days on the Transamerica Trail living out of our tent and it changed us in ways we did not anticipate. In today’s society, every want and whim is catered to; every need is met in increasingly rapid fashion and it’s difficult to not get swept up in that. But the outdoors has a way of helping us, it calls us to unplug and quiet the noise of everyday society; to remember forgotten hopes and dreams.
Nature helps us in ways we don’t always know we needed. If you feel as if you need to reset and regain your perspective, simply pack up and head out into the wild. Maybe we’ll see you there.
Driving up Capulin is a great way to get a fantastic view of the surrounding area.