After two separate trips, D and I finally found a place in KC that lives up to my random and demanding standards. On our way back down to Oklahoma after trip number one, we had to make a stop.
D is (or soon will be) an environmental engineer, and for the past three years, he has worked for a restoration center responsible for implementation and monitoring of a passage treatment system along Tar Creek in Northeastern Oklahoma. In addition to this work, D is also doing research for his own thesis on the fate and transport of sediment here. 
The acid mine waste that gives this creek it's bright red color poisoned the once booming now abandoned lead and zinc mining town of Picher, OK. I was shocked to see this sad mess in person after hearing so much about it for the past few year. The top picture shows water flowing directly out of a mine, and the picture below it shows a mountain of mine waste called chat. In the lower set, you can see D collecting some samples and images of the passive treatment system.
An Oklahoma film maker by the name of Brad Beesly (Feerless Freaks, Okie Noodling) made a documentary called The Creek Runs Red about Tar Creek and the town of Pichard. Check out the Trailer, and you can get the full film on Netflix.
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