As the water rushes to the sea it creates ribbons of green in a land of reds and browns. The desert explodes with life. All too soon, though, the blistering heat returns. The land dries. The streams slow to a trickle.
Life congregates around tiny springs.
As the water bubbles up from the ground, it creates an oasis in a dry land. Life is sustained for yet another year. The desert is a vast landscape of rock walls of weathered rhyolite, where beauty lies around the next bend. Or sometimes, just under the surface. Outside Shoshone, Idaho, a group of cavers explores a lava tube named Jawdropper.