Chapter 5 - Day 15- Biosphere

 3/15 - Biosphere 2.0, Tucson landmarks and BLM camping

My goals for the day were to see Biosphere and the local arboretum, but I just ended up at Biosphere and a few landmarks.

Biosphere 2.0 was really neat. In the 80's, if you'll remember, there was an experiment where people were sealed into the biosphere for 2 months to see if they could survive. Like a Mars experiment. Now, the politics behind this were crazy, and the experiment itself failed rather quickly, but the buildings and research continue. I LOVED every single minute of the tour. My science heart was all pitter pattering.

For quick reference, Biosphere was supposed to house each biome, species for both food and atmospheric impact, and weather modulation for each. The ocean housed reef fish and inverts. The fog desert housed plants, insects and amphibian/reptiles. There were goats and chickens. Pretty nuts.

Now, it's run by the University of Arizona for experiments, still, but nothing to the scale of the initial reason it was built.

It's interesting the things that failed over time, even that succession is interesting and being studied.

From there I headed to my evening spot and enjoyed some amazing desert views.

I stayed west of Tucson in an area called Old Pump Road, which wasn't the actual name of any road around it.