I spent the morning hiking with MC Flashcard, aka Tim Staley. He teaches English at Oñate High School in Las Cruces.

Staley also runs a small poetry press called Grandma Moses Press and likes to organize poetry marathons and rap competitions for his students. He and his wife are also in a band called Barely Legal.

He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and came west to pursue poetry. He won a kayak in a raffle sponsored by Budweiser and is now a self-described river rat who likes to float and hike at night to escape the desert heat.

But living in a town that has a flowing river only a few months a year makes getting out to paddle a bit difficult. Sometimes, he and his friends will just float under a bridge. There are not too many places to paddle to and just floating on the river can be enough.  

Our walk took us by a section of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, which was created in May of this year.  It was easy to see why living in a small college town with almost half a million acres of open desert and mountains to explore would be appealing to a poet.

He wanted to walk with me to get more information about paddling other sections of the Rio Grande and balancing domestic life with outdoor adventures.

I was thrilled to have someone to talk to as we trudged through the soft sand. I tried to keep my feet dry while jumping over the little streams that remain of the Rio Grande.

I told him all I could about paddling the other sections of the river. It’s great when there is water. Don’t be intimidated by the rapids of the Rio Grande Gorge. The laws are not clear on whether the wildlife refuges can bar access to the public.

I’m not much help for the domestic side, exploring rivers takes time and I understand that is difficult to spare if you have a career and a family.

But there must be something to taking kids to the river.

Staley had to be back in town by noon. I finished the walk at the park where I had met the students of Melly Locke’s class the day before on my own.

There, under the Highway 70 bridge, several of the students were back with their parents to see the river. This time they wanted to find the water. Armed with shovels, they started to dig down to the water table.

Three feet into the sand they found water.

It was just another summer Saturday afternoon hanging out with friends down by the river. Here is the video all about it.

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