Zigzag River ( #AtoZChallenge )

 Rivers flow hither and yon, round and about, fast and slow.  Rivers go where rivers go and then the cycle begins again...

Zig Zag River

The Zigzag River flows from its headwaters on Mt. Hood( Photo by instagrammer tomgolfkam).

          Zig zagging across this continent as well as continents throughout the world, rivers are everywhere.  The rivers come in all sizes and appearances.   They wind, they snake, they crawl, and often they rampage with an apparent frenzied rage as they persist in getting to their ultimate destinations.

 

          Some rivers move in a zig zag path while one river is named "Zigzag".  The Zigzag River in Oregon is only 12 miles long but it boasts some formidable whitewater rapids in its final 3 miles before it reaches the confluence with the Sandy River.  In this part of Oregon the Zigzag name is everywhere from the Zigzag Glacier where the Zigzag River begins to the Zigzag Falls along the river course to the small community of Zigzag at the merging of the Sandy River.   You get a larger than normal dose of Z's in this part of Oregon.

         To close my A to Z Rivers of America series let us look at a final river running through New Mexico and Arizona--the Zuni River.   Considered sacred by the Zuni tribe, their namesake river struggles for survival in the arid desert where it sometimes flows.  In drier seasons the river might go from a trickle to apparent nothingness.  Yet the river persists as it has persisted for seemingly as long as the Earth has been around.  From the fossils that are found in the surrounding river basin to the Zuni people who lived on this land long before Europeans arrived, the Zuni River exemplifies the longlastingness of rivers.

        Dream of rivers.  Experience rivers.  Watch the rivers flow and imagine what has been and what will be.  The rivers belong to all of us.  They help economies thrive and ecosystems to survive.  You can't hug a river, but you can love them.  Love them for the life they provide.   Rivers are life.

      Can you think of a river that is more harmful than not?   Do you think it is good to control rivers with artificial measures like dams or channels?    If you could name a river, what name would you like to use?