We'd spent the morning driving across southern Idaho's high desert, where miles of open country stretch beneath an endless sky. Sagebrush rolled past the windows in muted shades of green and silver, and the horizon seemed to breathe in slow motion.

Some days, depending on wind and temperature, the water reappears in shimmering puddles that reflect the sky like spilled mercury. Other days, the Jetty looks like a fossil left high and dry, its basalt boulders dusted in white, surrounded by a landscape that feels both fragile and fierce at once.