Stories in the Stones: The Age of the Shifting Tides

Hello All:

On Sunday, I took my wife and daughter on a short hike in the Arizona desert. The desert is beautiful this time of year with sunny, blue skies and temperatures around 65 degrees. I suggested we visit an area I know well, one covered in millions of brightly colored and patterned stones, making it feel like a treasure hunt adventure. We hiked a couple of miles, determined to reach the place with all the beautiful stones.

We finally arrived and slowly walked, admiring the millions of multi-colored stones. It didn't take long for me to pick one up and admire the markings, which looked to me like ancient writing. In the palm of my hand lay a tiny, ancient library, a physical recording of a world that existed long before the first footsteps of the desert tribes were ever heard. Through a mysterious phenomenon of environmental synchronicity, these patterns reveal a chapter of survival written in the very skin of the earth.

The Imprinted History

The dark, rhythmic bands and the pale, sandy expanses tells a story of The Age of the Shifting Tides.

There was once rising waters. The heavy, dark foundations seen in the lower half of the stone represented a time of immense flooding millions of years ago. These were not gentle rains, but a deluge that lasted for generations, depositing rich, dark minerals across a vast basin where humans did not yet walk. The waters rose and fell with a rhythm as old as time itself, shaping the land with an unyielding force.

The stone contains a salt flat signal. The pale tan section above it marks a sudden shift—a long period of intense sun and evaporation. This area was once a shallow sea that dried into a salt-crusted plain, leaving behind a "warning" of the harsh, arid cycles to come. The sun's

relentless gaze turned the water into a glittering expanse of salt, a silent testament to the power of evaporation.

Then we have the traveler's path. Look closely at the dark, jagged line cutting vertically through the tan section. This was a recording of a massive seismic event—a "tragedy" in the earth's crust that fractured the landscape, creating the very canyons my feet now traversed. The earth groaned and shifted, carving out paths that would one day be walked by adventurers and dreamers.

I hold in my hand a message from the Earth. The patterns are a natural calligraphy. They speak of the triumph of the land itself, enduring the weight of water and the fire of the sun to remain whole. This stone is a witness to a time when the Arizona desert was an ocean floor, and every line was a verse in its long, silent song.

The stone does not merely exist; it remembers. It should leave us with a profound sense of awe. The stone holds the echoes of ancient seas, the whispers of the wind, and the stories of a land that had seen it all. It's a testament to the enduring spirit of the earth, a chronicle of survival and resilience.

As I continued my hike, the stone tucked safely in my pocket, I felt a deeper connection to the desert. The patterns on the stone were no longer just lines and veins; they were the chapters of a grand narrative, a tale of a world that had risen and fallen with the tides of time. And in that moment, I knew that the desert holds more stories than I could ever imagine, waiting to be discovered by those (like me) who dare to listen.