Chapter 6: A Weird Cactus Doing Really Well for Itself

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Roberson drives from Denver to Great Sand Dunes National Park with low expectations for sand. Upon seeing the 750‑foot dunes flanked by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, she is awestruck by the landscape’s strangeness. At the visitor center, she learns she cannot hike the dunes due to high wind and lightning risk. Instead, she completes a Junior Ranger booklet while seated on the patio. The booklet explains how the dunes formed from sediments carried by wind and water, and notes the area’s Indigenous history (Ute, Diné, Jicarilla Apache) and Zebulon Pike’s 1807 journal entry.

Walking the Sand Sheet Loop Trail, Roberson plays Junior Ranger bingo and spots dune grass, cactus, and mule deer. In the upper‑right bingo square is a drawing of a plant she had once called “a weird cactus that is doing really well for itself.” The booklet identifies it as yucca (actually in the asparagus family). Learning this name makes her feel more connected to the living world and prompts reflections on naming in an era of mass extinction.

The next morning she stays at a KOA in Cortez, Colorado, owned by her Aunt Chris and Uncle John. She visits Mesa Verde National Park, a site preserving the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) cliff dwellings. At the visitor center, she finishes her Junior Ranger activities, including a “Good Steward” worksheet that feels inadequate for today’s environmental crises. Ranger Cameron administers the pledge, adding a promise to floss and not argue in the car.

Roberson tours two cliff dwellings: Balcony House (thirty‑eight rooms) and Cliff Palace (150 rooms, ceremonial and administrative center). During the Cliff Palace tour a rainstorm traps the group in the courtyard under the cliff overhang. After Ranger Cameron runs out of facts, the group asks questions to pass the time. Roberson asks about family planning; the ranger jokingly answers “matricide” but does not elaborate.

The chapter closes by considering why the Ancestral Puebloans abandoned Mesa Verde around 1200 CE–possibly deforestation, overhunting, or drought. Roberson feels both called to action and paralyzed by the scale of modern climate change, especially since the current Southwest drought is already worse than the one that may have driven the Ancestral Puebloans away.

Key Events

Roberson arrives at Great Sand Dunes and is stunned by the dunes’ size and setting.
She cannot climb the dunes due to dangerous wind and lightning.
She completes a Junior Ranger booklet, learning about dune formation and local Indigenous history.
On the Sand Sheet Loop Trail she identifies yucca, correcting her earlier mistake of calling it a cactus.
She reflects on the power of knowing plant names during an age of mass extinction.
Roberson stays at the Cortez KOA run by her Aunt Chris and Uncle John.
At Mesa Verde she finishes Junior Ranger requirements and takes the pledge with Ranger Cameron.
She tours Balcony House and Cliff Palace, learning about Ancestral Puebloan life and architecture.
A rainstorm traps the tour group inside Cliff Palace, leading to awkward Q&A.
Roberson asks about family planning and receives a cryptic reply.
The chapter ends with reflections on the Ancestral Puebloans’ departure and modern feelings of environmental dread.

Character Development

Blythe Roberson moves from dismissive curiosity about sand to genuine wonder at the dunes and the yucca plant. Learning the name “yucca” gives her a sense of being “a person alive on this planet.” Her engagement with the Junior Ranger program deepens her bioregional knowledge. At Mesa Verde, she confronts the gap between pre‑industrial lifeways and her own fossil‑fuel‑dependent journey, feeling both inspired and paralyzed by the enormity of climate change.

Ranger Cameron is depicted as a good‑natured ranger who improvises when the tour runs long. His joke about matricide illustrates the limits of official park knowledge, but also the human side of interpretation.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Bioregional Awareness: The chapter explicitly references Jenny Odell’s concept of meeting the local bioregion through observation and indigenous history. Roberson’s experiences at both parks exemplify this practice.
Junior Ranger Program as Learning Tool: The booklets are presented not as childish games but as efficient ways to understand a park’s ecology, geology, and culture.
Yucca as Symbol of Misidentification and Connection: The plant Roberson once called a “weird cactus” becomes a touchstone for deeper ecological literacy. Naming it makes her feel more grounded in the living world.
Sustainability and Unsustainability: The Ancestral Puebloans lived in relative balance with their bioregion for seven centuries, yet still may have depleted resources. This contrasts sharply with modern consumer habits and fossil‑fuel reliance.
Climate Change Dread: Roberson oscillates between feeling called to action and feeling paralyzed, a tension that underlies much of the book.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter crystallizes Roberson’s central thesis: that paying close attention to place—learning names, geology, and history—can rekindle a sense of belonging, but also lays bare the scale of environmental destruction. The yucca revelation and the cliff dwelling tours lead her to ask whether even sustainable cultures can be outgrown, and what that means for a society that largely ignores its bioregion. The chapter also reinforces the value of the Junior Ranger program as a genuine educational tool, not just a children’s activity.

Study Questions

How does Roberson’s experience with dunes and yucca challenge her initial statement “I do not care about sand”?
Answer: Her initial indifference transforms into amazement when she sees the dunes’s scale and learns the ecological story behind them. Similarly, learning the name “yucca” shifts her from dismissive ignorance to meaningful engagement, showing that knowledge can foster appreciation even for the seemingly mundane.
What does the author imply about the modern concept of environmental stewardship through her critique of the “Good Steward” Junior Ranger worksheet?
Answer: The worksheet’s advice—turning off water while brushing teeth—strikes her as woefully inadequate for the climate crisis. She implies that contemporary stewardship must involve systemic change, not just individual behaviour, and that the Junior Ranger materials reflect a bygone optimism about consumer action.
Why does the chapter end with a feeling of paralysis despite Roberson’s increased ecological awareness?
Answer: Learning that the Ancestral Puebloans—who understood their bioregion deeply—still had to abandon Mesa Verde (possibly due to drought or resource depletion) suggests that even sustainable cultures face limits. For a modern traveler reliant on fossil fuels, the scale of required change feels overwhelming. Knowing more magnifies rather than resolves the ethical tensions of her own trip.