Spring Wildflowers

The desert is waking up with bright dashes of color here and there. Tiny lavender flowers, filaree (Erodium circutariam) are carpeting large swaths next to the roads.

The white and purple flowers of Nevada biscuitroot (Lomatium nevadense) are peeking out in sagebrush and pinyon/juniper areas. 

The brilliant red of desert Indian paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia) captures the eye immediately.

And here's a purple flower that I thought was particularly pretty, but it turns out to be a nonnative. I guess one of the reasons the nonnatives do so well is they get a head start on the natives! This is blue mustard (Chorispora tenella). For more on these and other plants, visit A Plant a Day.

I hope you get to see some bright colors where you live!

Desert Destination: Death Valley

Welcome to Death Valley National Park, at over 3 million acres, it's the largest national park in the lower 48 states. It's a place full of colorful geology, unexplained phenomenon, extreme variations, and wonderful surprises.

On today's trip, I'm going to take you from the southeast end of the park, near Shoshone, along the road that traverses the eastern side of the park up to Scotty's Castle.

Spring is a great time to visit Death Valley. Not only are the temperatures reasonable, but desert plants brighten the landscape. Some of the best places to see flowers are right next to the roads. Just park and wander around, and the diversity of life becomes apparent.

One of my favorite plants, the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) was in bloom. 

The bright yellow flowers flashed as the branches waved in the wind. 

Spring is a popular time to visit Death Valley, and in fact there were thousands of people staying at Furnace Creek, the park headquarters area. But because Death Valley is so huge, people are spread out in the rest of the park, and it often felt like I had it all to myself.

It was easy to pull off the highway and snap photos of whatever caught my attention, like some more wildflowers and the beginning of a salt flat.

The salt makes it hard for vegetation to live, but nevertheless, some plants and animals have adapted to it. One of the reasons there is so much salt in the bottom of Death Valley is that it used to have a huge lake in it, Lake Manly. When the water evaporated, the salt was left behind. The lake fluctuated at different levels, so there were many opportunities for salt to be deposited.

As I headed north, I noticed some people walking out on a big salt flat. I rounded a curve and saw a parking area. This wasn't just any salt flat, it was...

...Badwater! The lowest spot in North America, at 282 feet below sea level. A boardwalk stretched out from the parking lot onto the salt flat. 

I was there late in the day, but I could just imagine the heat of a July sun at noon. It would probably be over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, about hot enough to start drying a person into jerky.

These holes intrigued me. I'm not sure what caused them, but it makes me wonder if there are parts of Badwater that might suddenly sink and swallow me up.

Off the beaten path, the salt deposits rise up and provide interesting relief.

At Devil's Golf Course, the salt formations are even higher. They look delicate, but most are very hard and crunchy. Footing is difficult, and a fall would hurt.

Since it was late in the day, for a short while I was the only one out there, and it felt both neat and creepy at the same time.

I decided to take a detour off the highway to go on Artist Drive. The mountains are particularly colorful in this area. With the sun mostly behind Telescope Peak and the other mountains on the other side of the valley, I didn't have the full effect of the artist's palette, but it was still spectacular. The road is one way because of some tight turns and constricted canyons. Maybe next time I can do it on bicycle.

The next day I got a really early start and continued further north to Salt Creek. This is a little creek on the valley bottom. Despite the high salt, high temperatures, and scarce vegetation, this creek manages to be home to tiny pupfish, along with aquatic insects, birds, and more. 

A sand dune with pickleweed is right near the trail. The pickleweed is succulent, with squishy flesh that stores water.

To protect the creek, the trail is on a boardwalk which goes next to and sometimes over the creek.

Further north I found more good places to stop and enjoy the wildflowers.

It was a very windy day, so I decided to skip the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells. In the distance of this photo you can see the sand blowing off the dunes. If you want to experience a sand storm, one way to get a similar feeling is go to sand dunes on a windy day. I'm not sure why you would want to experience a sand storm, but just in case...

There is just so much to see in Death Valley that at times it becomes visually overwhelming. One thing I like to focus on are the alluvial fans, the land flowing out of the canyons in a fan-like pattern. Water eroded the rock away further upstream, redepositing it. As I look at the alluvial fan, my eye always moves up to the mouth of the canyon and I wonder what is up there. Death Valley must have hundreds of alluvial fans, so it makes my imagination go wild.

Another stop to admire some beautiful phacelia. Flowers bloom at the lower elevations from about February to the end of March, and then they start blooming at higher elevations. Telescope Peak is over 11,000 feet high, so there are even flowers blooming in the middle of summer in Death Valley.

A couple more alluvial fans coming down from mountains on the other side of the valley, with creosote bushes in the foreground.

Towards the north end of Death Valley, the main road curves to the east and goes to Scotty's Castle. 
The area is an oasis, and it's fun to wander the grounds and feel a little more humidity. A hummingbird was hanging out near the small waterfall between these palm trees.

Continuing up Grapevine Canyon, the road eventually leaves the park. I like the back of the park entrance sign, which said "Thanks for Experiencing Your National Park. Please Visit Again." 

I think I will. Thanks, Death Valley.

The Desert Comes Alive

While I was down in the Rainbow Basin last weekend, I had a wonderful time looking for desert wildflowers. Up in the Great Basin Desert at over 5,000 feet I've only seen two flowers so far, but the Mojave Desert is bursting with colors. It is so beautiful! I got up early each morning to see what I could find. I'm not very cognizant of Mojave wildflowers, so I'll do my best to identify them, but if I've missed the mark, please leave a comment!

One of the most frequent flowers was the one above, a bright yellow flower in the Evening Primrose family. It has a delightful name, Suncup (Camissonia brevipes). It can grow up to two feet tall and has lots of yellow flowers on each stem.

Desert holly (Atriplex hymenelytra) is an easily recognizable shrub with its holly-like leaves. These leaves are grey in color, one adaptation for surviving in the hot desert. The grey color helps them reflect more sunlight. I found one patch of desert holly that had tiny red flowers on it. I was so surprised, because it was the first time I had seen the flowers blooming. When they get older they often still stay on the plant, but turn brown and inconspicuous.

The hills of Rainbow Basin made a nice backdrop for some Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera). When these flower, they have large bell-shaped cream-colored blossom. This is the most common yucca of the North American deserts. California Indians gathered and roasted the fruits or ate them raw. They extracted fiber from the leaves for weaving blankets, baskets, and ropes.

Right up in the campground were large patches of fiddleneck (Amsinckia sp.), an annual herb in the Borage family that grows in disturbed areas. They have pretty yellow flowers bending along the raceme.

There were a few other people wandering around in the morning. Up on the ridge are the wonderful Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia).

Tucked down in the wash a flash of red caught my attention--Indian paintbrush (Castilleja sp.). The red is absolutely brilliant. One of the cool things about paintbrush is that it is a root parasite. It doesn't have many other desert adaptations, but it can tap into the roots of the shrubs it is growing near in order to get more water for itself.

Some of the washes were really eroded. It would be interesting to be up on the bank watching a flash flood. Some of the boulders in the wash are really large, testifying to the power of the water.

The bright colors of the flowers attract the pollinators, like this bee on this Phacelia (Phacelia sp.). To humans, flowers are beautiful things because they brighten up the landscapes, our gardens, and our homes. To pollinators, the flowers mean food. The sexier the flower, the more likely it is to attract pollinators and survive.

This delicate yellow flower emerged from the rough-looking dirt. I think it may be a desert poppy (Eschscholzia glyyptosperma).

 Here is a desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata), and in places huge numbers of them turned the desert floor yellow. Unlike common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), desert dandelions are native. 

Okay, for those of you saying, "Enough flowers!", here's a bird, a horned lark. It kept flitting from bush to bush along the wash. I'm used to seeing them along the sides of the road in big groups where I live, so I was a little surprised to see one all by itself and up higher in the vegetation.

I also found some ants actively moving things out of their burrow. I guess they are spring cleaning.

Another flower in the Sunflower Family is the desert chicory (Rafnesquia neomexicana). My wonderful guidebook (Desert Wildflowers of North America by Ronald J. Taylor) says that it has milky juice, but I didn't want to break the stem to find out.

And finally, one more pretty flower, not quite opened up. I'm not sure what it is, but I figured that just because I didn't have the exact name for it, I shouldn't discriminate and delete the photo. After all, sometimes just enjoying the beauty of the flower for being a flower is enough!

Desert Destination: Crystal Peak

Usually I just do one desert destination a week, but for spring break we had fun going to lots of places, so here's another one.

Crystal Peak is located in the southeastern part of Snake Valley in western Utah, and is different from all the surrounding mountains. Made of Tunnel Springs tuff, the white volcanic rock contrasts with the nearby forest-covered hills and peaks. 

In the afternoon light, Crystal Peak looks like it's glowing. Early Indians clearly knew about it, as they told Mormon settlers of its existence. When the Mormons were looking for other places to live in this area, they called one such search the White Mountain Mission. 

Today Crystal Peak is part of a wilderness study area, requiring a hike to reach its base. During the Spring Break trip, Uncle Andrew set off with a quickly-growing Desert Boy in the backpack. As previous trips have shown, Uncle Andrew often has some memorable adventures. The Crystal Peak trip is another to add to his book.

Although from a distance it appears as if nothing is living on Crystal Peak, upon closer examination it's obvious it supports some life. One curious find are small ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trees. Usually these trees are found at higher elevations and near riparian areas. The pockets in the rock apparently hold enough water to support these trees.

I saw my first native wildflower of the season blooming on Crystal Peak, but just one plant. It's a twinpod, also called bladderpod (Physaria unknown species), in the Mustard family. I was very excited to see something blooming.

One of the most common plants on Crystal Peak is this mat-forming plant from the Rose family, Rock spiraea (Petrophytum caespitosum). It's considered to be an evergreen shrub, even though it usually only grows to be 6-8 inches tall. It produces pretty white flowers that ascend on single stems above the mat. In the photo above we can see last year's flowers that have turned brown.

In addition to plants, we saw spiders, bees, flies, and lizards, but they all moved too fast to capture a photo of them.

Our goal was to climb Crystal Peak, and from a previous trip I knew the best (easiest) approach was from the southeast side. So we walked around the base of the mountain, admiring the interesting shapes of the rock. The mountain formed about 33 million years ago.

It took a long time to walk around to the back side of the mountain, and when we got to this ravine, Uncle Andrew thought this would be a good way to go up the mountain. So he took off like a mountain goat (I had the backpack by this point), with the rest of us following. From the bottom, it looked doable.

We scrambled up rock chutes, getting a close-up look at the Tunnel Springs tuff. The rock is quite crumbly, so what at first might seem like a good handhold could suddenly break off. The tuff has a lot of quartz crystals in it, but they are the size of sand, so it feels a little bit like climbing sand paper. 

Eventually we got to a point where it got really steep. Uncle Andrew and his professor were able to keep going up, but the rest of us decided we had reached our limit (even Desert Boy, who was quite vocal). We started our way down, which was definitely harder than going up. 

Eventually Uncle Andrew and his professor made it to the top, at 7,108 feet, after first getting to two false summits, finding thigh-deep snow on the north side, and getting an excellent workout.

Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoyed the views as we worked our way carefully down the steep slope. Even though we hadn't been able to make it to the top via that route, it was an experience we wouldn't forget.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the less steep sections.

Surrounding Crystal Peak is Kanosh Shale, a rock type with lots of fossils. We didn't spend much time looking at them, but someone who is interested in fossils could easily spend an afternoon here. 

Here is a photo of the south side of Crystal Peak. The temperature for our adventure was perfect. In the summer, it can be quite hot on the mountain, and there is no water available, so you have to bring your own.

If you decide you want to climb Crystal Peak, the easiest way is to go to the southeast side of the peak and climb up the slope covered with trees, shown in the above photo on the left side of the photo. (This is also where there are lots of fossils.) Then cut over to the tuff and follow the ridge up to the top. There's not a trail, so watch your footing and take a map. Here are directions for how to get here. And have fun!