Desert Destination: The Mojave Desert

The Great Basin Desert where I live now is quite cold in winter, being a high desert with a thin atmosphere. So it was time to head south to the Mojave Desert, which has warmer weather.The Mojave desert covers the southern part of California and Nevada, the northwestern part of Arizona, and a little of Utah. 

Heading down the highway, I saw the pinyon and juniper trees and sagebrush fade away and a new character appear...

A Joshua tree! The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is the signature plant of the Mojave desert. It pretty much only grows in this desert, and its outlandish character makes it really easy to spot. Whenever I see one, I wonder if Dr. Seuss found inspiration in these trees.

Joshua trees are slow growers, stretching about three inches higher a year for the first ten years, and then only an inch and a half a year thereafter. Joshua trees can live hundreds of years, with a few even surpassing their thousandth birthday. They don't have growth rings, so it can be really difficult to age a Joshua tree. The tallest ones reach about 45 feet high.

Joshua trees can grow from seeds or underground rhizomes that spread from nearby neighbors. They apparently can have quite an extensive root network. The leaves of Joshua trees are pointy, so they don't exactly encourage caressing. From February to April, white flowers appear and are pollinated by the yucca moth.

As the trees grow older, they can have many branches that reach out and take even crazier forms. The name Joshua tree was given by Mormon settlers traveling across the Mojave desert who were reminded of a biblical story of Joshua reaching his arms up to the heavens in prayer.

The valley bottom is covered in fog, making these Joshua trees appear even more supernatural. Joshua trees do not grow everywhere in the Mojave Desert; for example, they were not on the valley bottom. Although they can survive with scarce precipitation and hot temperatures, even they have their limits.  

Desert Destination: Ibex Practice Rocks

About an hour west of Delta, Utah, steep cliffs descend to a dry lakebed called the Tule Hardpan. Over the last couple decades, these cliffs have been "discovered" by rock climbers as an excellent place to climb without crowds. About two miles to the northwest is a smaller rock outcropping, known (at least by me) as the Practice Rocks.

These Practice Rocks are sedimentary rocks called Eureka and Watson Ranch Quartzites. Fossils are rare, but occasionally found. The name Watson Ranch refers to Jack Watson, who moved to the southern end of the big Ibex crags in 1911. He developed a ranch and operated a small store for sheep herders and anyone else wandering around the West Desert for about 20 years. Nowadays, no one lives out here. In fact no one lives for at least 40 miles in any direction.

Because the practice rocks are so much smaller than the main crags, they don't get much attention. But there is a campfire ring, and after scrambling around on the rocks for twenty minutes, I decided I'd like to make use of it sometime. There is plenty to see and do to make camping a good option.

Many of the rocks are parallel to each other, allowing hallways, and in some cases, tunnels, to get between them. There are easy and difficult ways to move about the rocks, and it would be an awesome place to play hide and seek. (I can't help it, scrambling on rocks brings out the kid in me. In fact, I kept thinking how fun it would be to bring a bunch of kids out here and play--but I would give each one a whistle because the area is big enough it might be hard to hear a shout.)

The views are spectacular, with distant mountain ranges appearing in all directions. Notch Peak is to the north, which is a fun climb I'll cover someday in a separate post.

One of the surprises at the Practice Rocks is the corral, which was built using the rocks themselves on one side to help keep the sheep in place. The corral is in pretty good shape, so I expect it may still be used once in awhile.

The Practice Rocks are only about two miles south of Highway 50, and they're worth the detour to scramble around and take in the outstanding views. It's always fun to stop and find something is more than it seemed while passing it at 65 mph on the highway!

Gunnison Massacre Site

I've passed this sign several times and never drove the two miles to see what was at the Gunnison Massacre Site or what it was about. But the other day we had a little spare time, so we drove out the gravel road. And here is what we found...

A metal stake and a rock. I was severely underwhelmed. I got out of the truck to take a closer look.

The metal post said: "Gunnison Massacre Site Oct. 26 1853, More info Great Basin Museum Delta UT." 

Well, we went to the Great Basin Museum, but it was closed. So I looked on the internet, and I found some interesting information that made me glad I had taken the time to drive four extra bumpy, dusty miles. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) had placed a marker at the site in 1927, but due to vandalism (primarily target practice), the marker had been removed and placed at the museum. 

Here is what it says:

In 1853, Captain John W. Gunnison was selected to lead an expedition to find a trans-continental railroad route. He followed the Old Spanish Trail through Salina Canyon, over the mountains to Pahvant Valley, and upon reaching Fillmore, visited his friend, Bishop Anson V. Call. Gunnison made friends in Utah while serving with Howard Stansbury's mapping expedition in 1851. Bishop Call warned him of Indians near the Sevier River because an old Indian brave in the Kanosh Tribe had been killed by members of a California-bound wagon train. Moshoquop, son of the dead brave, had vowed to avenge his father. Gunnison knew Kanosh and Moshoquop as friends, but they did not know of his return to Utah. On the evening of October 28, 1853, Gunnison and his party made camp on the bank of the river. They took a few shots at migrating wildfowl. Two Indians heard the shots and crept near enough to see the military uniforms and army equipment, but not close enough to recognize the men. The Indians reported the news, and during the night, plans were made and the camp was surrounded. At daylight the cook made a fire, Gunnison went to the river to wash up, and men began working with the horses. As the sun appeared over the mountain the first shot was fired. Three men escaped on horses, although one fell and had to hide in the brush. One man swam the river and hid in the willows. Eight men were killed by guns and arrows. The survivors made their way to Fillmore and reported the tragedy. Gunnison's body was taken to Fillmore for burial. William Potter, a Mormon guide, was buried at his home in Manti. Six men rest in a common grave at this site. They are John Bellows, W.J. Creuzfeld, botanist; R.H. Kern, artist; and Privates Lipcott, Calfield, and Merteens of the United States Army.

This is an early map of the area, published in 1889 in Bancroft's History of Utah 1540-1886. You can see the Sevier River in the bottom middle of the illustration. Then it flows north, around the Wasatch Mountains, and curves around to Sevier Lake. The town of Delta is not shown on the map--it didn't exist until 1906.

This is a view of the river today: a dry creek bed. That's mainly because many dams have been installed upriver, so only on exceptionally high water years does water flow all the way down the Sevier River into Sevier Lake. As a result, the lake is usually a dry lake bed. Well, whenever I see that sign now, I will have a few thoughts to occupy my mind. I find that occasionally stopping and exploring on my most common drives makes them go by a lot faster because I have memories to fill my mind when I pass the landmarks.

A Little Detour

A couple weeks ago I took Desert Boy to town to go to the dentist. Town in this case was over two hours away by paved roads. Perhaps it was all the city traffic, or maybe it was the stoplights, or perchance it was just so many stores and bright lights to look at. Whatever it was, on the way home I decided to take a detour and get off the civilized paved road. I knew I could turn off the highway by a ranch, head up the valley, go across the pass, and in a while I would end up at home. Had I ever taken this route before? No. But I knew it would work out, and I had a truck full of groceries, so we had plenty to eat and drink.

One of the first signs we saw were these Stay Out tires along the post. It made us feel very welcome as we drove along. Actually, the Stay Out tires cracked me up, because everything on the other side of the fence pretty much looked like what was on our side of the fence. We obeyed, though, and stayed on our side.

Our side consisted of this long, long gravel road, stretching out as far as the eye could see. If you look really hard, you can see some mountains at the end of the road. I figured we'd have to drive nearly to those mountains before we made our turn to go over the pass. So we drove and drove. Desert Boy woke up from his nap and we sang songs. There wasn't much to point out to him except mountains and desert plants because we didn't pass a single vehicle. It was a blissful afternoon in the desert.

We came to a couple intersections and I headed in the direction I knew we needed to go. The only problem was that the roads didn't keep going in the direction they started out, and eventually I determined that we were disoriented. That's right, we were not lost. Someone once told me that as long as you enjoy where you are, you're not lost, just disoriented. Plus, it wasn't like we could just pull over to the nearest convenience store and ask for directions, so it was better just to enjoy it. After driving a bit further, the sun started getting a little lower in the afternoon sky and I decided it might be better to backtrack and try a different set of two-track roads. On the way back I got a picture of this neat sheep corral. I wouldn't have seen it if we hadn't gotten lost--oops, I mean disoriented.

We finally reached a more traveled road that led to a white-colored mountain called Crystal Peak. I had been to this peak before and felt good that I could find my way home from it. We stopped to admire the volcanic rock, which really stands out against the darker surrounding rock and conifers. Desert Boy needed a diaper change and the back of the truck was full of groceries leaving no space, so I pulled the diaper bag out of the truck and we went a little ways off the side of the road. After changing him, I thought it might be fun to walk around a little and stretch our legs.

I also enjoyed looking at some of the neat plants like this rock spiraea (Petrophytum caespitosum). It grows in mats on the rock and puts up these pretty flowers.

The mountain is quite large, and the volcanic tuff has lots of interesting pockets in it. There's a ponderosa pine tree at the bottom of the picture to give you some perspective. 

Well, after enjoying our break, we got back into the truck and went home, tired but happy. It was a bit of a chore unloading all the groceries, but the cold stuff had stayed cold in the coolers and the bread wasn't too smashed. I told my dear husband about our little adventure, we ate dinner, and we went to bed.

Two days later, I needed the diaper bag. I searched all over the house and couldn't find it. I made my husband look all over, and he couldn't find it either. Finally it dawned on me that I had left the diaper bag at Crystal Peak, along the side of the road. I could have rushed out there, but it was more convenient to go in the afternoon, and I figured if it had been out there for two days, a few more hours wouldn't hurt.

In the afternoon, I loaded Desert Boy into the truck and we drove nearly an hour to get to Crystal Peak. My heart started pounding hard as we got close to where we had stopped before. Would it still be there? My wallet was in the diaper bag, and I hate losing my wallet. I didn't want to have to get a new driver's license, insurance card, credit card, bank card, hotel frequent stayer card, grocery store card. I had left a dirty diaper next to the diaper bag, and surely that would have attracted a coyote, who would have grabbed the bag and ran off with it.

I parked and went around the truck to get Desert Boy out. We started heading towards where I remembered changing him. I made myself walk slowly to make sure I wouldn't miss it. I didn't see it, so I looked around, thinking about which way a coyote might have gone. I didn't really want to consider the possibility that someone might have been driving by and just picked it up and took off with it. We walked a bit further, around some bushes, on the white rock, over a little gully. And then I saw it, right where I had left it. The top was unzipped with the wallet right on top. The dirty diaper was wrapped neatly next to the bag. I quickly thanked God and all the angels and saints and picked up the bag and took it right to the truck. I figured only out in the rural desert could I leave an open diaper bag with a wallet practically hanging out of it and it would be fine days later.

And then Desert Boy and I went hiking. We had driven this far, so we figured we might as well enjoy it! 

Desert Junk

It's just one of the facts of life when you live in the desert. There's nowhere to hide the junk. That's right, those old refrigerators, automobile carcasses, flat tires, and other random big things can't be thrown out behind the house and get swallowed up by the woods, because we don't have woods. We don't have enough rain to have trees grow on the valley bottom unless they are next to a stream or watered. We mostly have weeds grow up around the junk that gets thrown out. 

Yes, the junk could be hauled off to the dump, but when you live out in the middle of nowhere, you just might need that junk someday. It might have another use, like spare parts, or a place for Desert Boy to practice driving, or a place to stop the tumbleweeds,  or a good place for a cat to sleep. (Did you see the cat in the junker above?) 

Of course one person's junk is another person's treasure, and some of my favorite art pieces are made from junk. I figure it's a good way to support the environment. What do you do with junk?

Getting Hot on the Playa

Ready to experience the desert? My husband was on Sunday, so we headed out to this huge playa about 45 miles from our house. We have plenty of playas closer to our house, but he wanted to go to this particular one because it is a wet playa year round. Not that you can tell by the photo above. In some years it does have water on it, but that water evaporates or seeps down into the soil. Most of the playas near us are wet in the winter and spring and dry out in the summer and have a hard enough surface that you can drive on it. 

Here's the sign next to the playa. It says "WARNING STOP!!! Lake Bed is NOT DRY! Proceeding past this sign will result in getting stuck. $500. minimum recovery fee will be charged to rescue your vehicle. [Bullet hole, bullet hole] Sheriff's Posse"

My husband on the surface is a hard-working rancher. Underneath he is a mad scientist with lots of crazy experiments to try out. His experiments are usually kind of fun, so Desert Boy and I went along for the ride. But when we got out of the truck it was 99 degrees. And once we stepped out onto the playa, with all those sun rays being reflected back to us, it was much hotter.

I trudged along behind, looking at the tracks on the playa. There were some deer and coyote tracks, but mostly there were car tracks--or ruts in some cases. Obviously not everyone heeded the sign's advice.

I found a clear example of this when I came across these boards. Someone had gotten stuck and used the boards to try to get extra traction. Hopefully it worked for them, otherwise they had a big towing bill to pay.

And these three wheel tracks? They were from Desert Boy's stroller. I wonder if anyone else will wander out on the playa and be puzzled by the strange tracks. You can barely make out my husband from here. I had really fallen behind. I don't do so well in hot weather.

Finally I caught up and Desert Boy seemed to be enjoying the view from his stroller. I had enough though, and I wheeled him back to the truck, where we turned on the air conditioner, ate chips, and watched my husband run (run!) from one location to another on the playa. I was praying I wouldn't have to go out and rescue him. If I did, I was hoping that I could load him in the stroller and wheel him back.

Forty-five minutes later my husband came back, beaming as he talked about soil properties and conductance and a bunch of stuff I didn't really understand. I asked him if the heat bothered him. He said no, he just worked up a good sweat and then the wind cooled him off as the sweat evaporated. I told him I could tell he had been sweating a lot due to his odor. He said it wasn't him, it was his clothes! Good golly. You're lucky that they haven't invented share-a-smell over the internet or you know that I'd be sharing the smell with you too. You're probably content with the pictures--the desert is really beautiful, especially when seen from a nice, cool climate.

Monsoon Weather

It's late summer, and that means in many North American desert areas it's monsoon season. Giant clouds build up over the mountains, get excited, and send down lightning bolts and deafening thunder. Every once in awhile the clouds even release some moisture and we get some rain.

Monsoon weather is found across the globe. We generally have monsoons during July and August, when winds blow moisture from Mexico and Arizona up towards our direction. The winds heat up as they cross the hot land, and when enough moisture is present in the air, the combination creates clouds. These clouds build and build, forming large thunderheads. They are really cool to watch, but they also can make mountain hiking dangerous due to the increased lightning activity.

 
Here are some actual rain drops hitting the windshield! Of course the wipers don't work that well on our desert vehicles, because the hot sun makes the rubber on the windshield wiper blades crack and we use them so infrequently that we forget to replace them.

During one recent monsoon rain shower, I went out in the garden to weed. My garden has been terrific at growing weeds but so-so at growing what I planted. The cloud cover and gentle sprinkles made for a perfect temperature to make my garden look more respectable. Meanwhile, Desert Boy and Henry were playing in the sand and then in a muddy puddle. I figured we had better try to clean up Desert Boy, especially because he was wearing a white onesie and now had a very black behind. So we went to clean up any self-respecting person does: we went to the kiddie pool! Here's a 22 second video of Desert Boy cleaning up in the pool, with a little help from Henry.

Following the dip in the kiddie pool, sure enough, Desert Boy was much cleaner.
He was also sporting some extra curves with his bulging diaper. And that's how we end up when we begin discussing monsoon weather!

A Walk in the Desert

Last weekend my husband wanted to go wandering around the desert looking for mines. There are certainly lots of old mines around, and I can just imagine those prospectors in the early days on their mules searching up and down every canyon trying to find the right piece of rock that would make them rich. Some got rich, but most only got rich for a couple days and then they were back to searching for more mineral-laden rock. 

I wasn't too interested in the mines, but because my husband had been so nice accompanying me to the cave and watching Desert Boy the previous weekend, I agreed to go. I had my camera and wandered around the desert looking for interesting things. As you can see in the photo above, wandering is fairly easy, with large gaps between the shadscale and four-winged saltbush. Once in awhile I would find a flower or some scat.

This little hole caught my eye, with the rim of little gravel around it. I think it's an ant hole, but as I didn't see any ants it's possible that some other insect made it.

I saw exactly two cacti in my hour of wandering. Here's one, with particularly long spines.

Desert Boy and Henry also enjoyed wandering around and seeing what they could find. It was rough terrain for Desert Boy to navigate, but I figure his balance should be improving a lot. 

The Hawaiian outfit doesn't quite go with the desert landscape, but obviously he doesn't care. The cloud cover made for cool temperatures and a perfect day to enjoy the subtle beauties of the desert.

Did my husband find a gold mine? I've been sworn to secrecy!

Where are the Deserts of the World?

Non-polar arid regions of the world. USGS Image. Click on image to enlarge it.

Did you ever wonder how many deserts are in the world? I did a little research and was astonished at how many deserts exist. Deserts are found on every continent, and each one is a little different. I'm thinking it would be an interesting goal to visit each desert, and I wonder if anyone ever has. 

Keep in mind that a desert is not necessarily hot, it just doesn't get much precipitation. If you missed the post about what is a desert, click here.

The following list of deserts comes from Wikipedia:

Africa
Sahara – the world's largest hot desert 
Kalahari – southern Africa
Namib – Southern Africa
Antarctica
Antarctica – the interior of the continent is the world's largest desert
Asia
Gobi – a desert in Mongolia
Taklamakan – a desert located in China
Ordos – a desert in northern China
Kara Kum – a large Central Asian desert
Kyzyl Kum – a desert located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
Thar- Cholistan – a desert in India and Pakistan
Dasht-e Lut - a large salt desert in southeastern Iran ,and the hottest place on earth.
Dasht-e Kavir – a desert in center of Iran
Australia
Gibson Desert – a central Australian desert
Great Sandy Desert – a northwestern Australian desert
Great Victoria Desert
Simpson Desert – a central Australian desert
Little Sandy Desert – a western Australian desert
Strzelecki Desert – a south-central Australian desert
Tanami Desert – a northern Australian desert
New Zealand
Rangipo Desert – a barren high altitude desert on the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand
Europe
Accona Desert - a desert in Tuscany, Italy
Bardenas Reales - a desert in Navarra, Spain
Błędowska Desert – a desert located in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
Deliblatska Peščara - a desert located in Vojvodina, Serbia
Hálendi – a region of Iceland and Europe's largest desert
Oltenian Sahara – a desert spanning approximately 80.000 hectares or 800 km² in the Romanian historical province of Oltenia
Tabernas Desert – a desert in Almería, Spain.
Middle East
Arabian Desert – a vast desert complex on the Arabian Peninsula comprising the Al-Dahna Desert, Empty Quarter, Nefud Desert and other deserts
Dasht-e Kavir – a desert in central Iran
Dasht-e Lut – a large salt desert in southeastern Iran
Judean Desert – a desert in eastern Israel and in the West Bank
Negev – a desert located in southern Israel
Desert of Sin / Zin Desert (Bible usage) – a desert located on the Sinai Peninsula
North America
Great Basin Desert – the largest desert in North America, located in the western United States
Mojave Desert – a desert located primarily in southeastern California
Chihuahuan Desert – the second largest desert in North America, in the United States and Mexico
Sonoran Desert – a desert located in the United States and Mexico
South America
Patagonian Desert – the largest desert by area in the Americas, located in Argentina
La Guajira Desert – a desert in northern Colombia
Atacama – a desert in Chile, the driest place on Earth
Sechura Desert – a desert located along a portion of the northwestern coast of South America
Monte Desert – in Argentina, a smaller desert above the Patagonian

So which desert would you like to visit next?

Springs in the Desert

Out in the desert, you come to expect miles and miles of dry land. Every once in awhile you come across some water, and that water is a welcome sight.

The water provides water to drink, a resting spot for waterfowl, and home to fish, frogs, and other aquatic organisms.

The green in the foreground of this picture is watercress (Nasturtium officinale). Watercress only grows where water is present year round and in specific water conditions. In some desert springs, it is an important substrate for snails.

This tiny springsnail (Pyrgulopsis species) is one found on the watercress. It doesn't look like much, but it shows that the spring may have been around for thousands of years. I explain a little more about the life of a springsnail in this post.

Viewed from above, springs stand out in stark contrast to the surrounding bleak desert vegetation. Desert animals learn where the springs are and know how far they can go from their water sources and still survive.

Perhaps even skunks! Skunk Spring is located in an especially dry area.

Sometimes springs are developed to provide a water source for wildlife and livestock. To develop a spring, an area with greasewood is usually dug up, a collecting area and pipe installed, and the water flows downhill into a tub or other collector.

Not all desert springs are totally isolated. This spring helps feed a creek that leads into a lake.

Desert springs are hotspots of diversity. After all, who wouldn't like to live by a little water? They are also particularly vulnerable to changes in the water table. If these little green patches dry up, it could be many, many miles to the next water source. That's a scary thought when it's a hot, dry summer day and you've run out of water!