Jerry Mathers

We are missing our dogs and cats that we left in good hands in Olympia, so we decided to get a new pet or companion. With this new appreciation for the desert and all it’s beings, we got a Beavertail cactus. His name is Jerry and when we bought him in Borrego Springs, he had a single flower bud on his crown. Yesterday that flower opened, and it’s a beauty. Jerry goes everywhere with us, and loves to grace our picnic table at each stop. When we change locations, he is strapped behind the rear window of the truck where he can see everything and we can keep an eye on him. He doesn’t like all the bumping on the road though.

Saguaros in Tucson

We’ve moved now into the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona and spent the last week around Tucson. This desert is surprisingly lush and green and has some of the wildflowers we met in Borrego, but there are many new plants here. The Saguaro cactus is the grand daddy of them all. This “classic” cactus grows very slowly and is only about 6 inches at 5 years old. It grows straight and tall and doesn’t sprout arms until it is about 70 years old. All kinds of birds drill holes and live inside these wonderful beings. Some can live to over 300 years of age.

We enjoyed a day at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum even though it was cold and rainy. They have both animal and plant interpretive displays in very natural settings. This Coati wasn’t too interested in getting his picture taken. Hiking in Saguaro National Park is terrific, especially when you can get up to a high peak and really look at the expanse of this desert. We heard coyotes howling during the day, but couldn’t see them anywhere.

We met up with some of Mary’s friends at the Colorado Rockies/Cincinnati Reds spring training baseball game and had a great time. Our trip to the Mission San Xavier del Bac was very interesting. It is the northern most of the Spanish Franciscan missions that are mostly in Mexico. This church and mission was built in the late 1700s and the interior was restored over seven years in the 1990’s. They were able to clean and touch up all the murals and statues that have been there for more than 200 years. The interior of the mission has very elaborate frescos reminiscent of Spanish and Italian churches. The church is still active and a native wedding started while we were on the grounds.

Remember the Biosphere II? It was an experiment in the 80s where 8 people lived inside a sealed structure for two years and tried to grow all their own food, recycle all their waste and water, and generate oxygen from the plant life inside the sphere. They performed scientific experiments on plants and animals in a closed system. Well, it’s still operating for research and we got to spend an afternoon there. Although it is no longer a sealed structure they still can control the weather inside and have 5 different climates and ecosystems including, desert, beach and tropical rain forest.

Back to Beautiful Bloom'n Borrego

Desert USA Wildflower report said that Borrego Springs was nearing its peak and is much better than any other desert area right now, so we went back to Borrego (it is becoming one of our favorite places). Borrego reminds us a lot of Orcas Island - small town, great farmers market, safe, clean and quiet.

As we drive along…the roadside is bright yellow. Upon closer inspection…blues…reds…purples…oranges…whites and lavenders appear.

What fun to 4-wheel out a rocky and sandy dirt road down a dry wash or mudstone canyon and happen upon patches of desert Lilies, red-tipped Ocotillos, Sand Verbena and Desert Lupine. Top that off with a hike into an old Palm Oasis, or across a dry lakebed in the bright sunshine and no wonder we’ve gained a strong appreciation for springtime in the desert.

Mary’s favorite plant so far is the Beaver Tail Cactus and Bob likes the spiny Ocotillllo. Maybe we should change our road names to: “Ocotillo Bob and Beaver Tail Mary - A Prickly Pair”

We photographed about 20 different wildflower species – a real treat! Here are photos of a red Ocotillo blossom, pink flowering Beavertail cactus, a field of Sand Verbena, desert Dandelion, Chicory and others, plus our sweet camping site. Love those palm trees.

More burros and Joshua Trees

After Death Valley we landed in Kingman, AZ so we could take a trip to Oatman down Route 66. This little “old west” mining town is quite the tourist attraction, mainly for the burros that come in from the hills and get friendly with the people. We showed up armed with carrots and got to feed several cute burros. There were at least three babies in the crowd and they all had stickers on their forehead that said NO CARROTS. Apparently their little digestive systems can’t handle them yet. Photos are of Bob feeding a friendly guy and a baby that was tired and just lay down in the street.

South of Kingman we drove through the Joshua Forest Parkway. When we were in Joshua Tree National Park last month, there were only a few trees blooming. Now there were lots and lots and several trees had over 25 blooms on them.

The wildflowers are now blooming along I-10 in Arizona. Today we saw brittlebush, lupine, poppies and some tall bright orange flowers. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Death Valley - huge, stark, awesome

Death Valley is really, really big. As you enter and look at the salt flats, dry lakebeds, rocks, mountains, alluvial fans and sand dunes, everything looks kind of close and moderately sized. Then you find out you are looking across a valley 14 miles wide and from elevations that range from -282 to over 11,000 feet in one view. As you travel and hike it seems as though you are going up gradual slopes and grades, until you start to head back down and realize this is pretty steep.

Climbing and descending the 100-200 foot sand dunes at Mesquite Flats is a wonderful and beautiful experience. We were there at sunset to see the play of light and shadow, and also got to experience a minor sand storm. Close inspection of the small dunes on the edge of the area revealed all manner of tracks from rodents, birds and lizards.

Hiking into steep walled canyons of rock, marble and mudstone in several places let us glimpse the stark hard arteries and heart of this place. We were able to lie on our backs on a dry lakebed in Panamint Valley and feel the warm hard earth seem to soften as we relaxed into its grasp.

With the recent and abundant rains it seemed there was at least small evidence of vegetation almost everywhere, but we were able to drive on dirt roads through canyons that looked more like the moon or mars than earth. It makes you realize the relative rarity of finding places without any vegetation or animal life.

On one trip we found ourselves walking on warm moist salt flats at -282 feet at Badwater, 30 minutes later we are hiking in a mudstone canyon at +1000 feet and an hour later we are shivering at Dantes View at +5,475 feet looking over Death Valley to snow covered Telescope Peak at over 11,000 feet.

We felt the intensity of the sun in the desert even though the temperatures were mild and even a bit cool. We felt the sting of wind blown sand a few times, and saw a density of stars that we haven’t seen for a long while.

Our home base was at Stovepipe Wells, a good central location. We were able to tour Scotty’s Castle to the north, Badwater to the south and Panamint Springs to the west.

Red Rock Wonderland

It would be so fantastic and healthy for people to visit the naturally beautiful areas around Las Vegas. There are mountains with snow and amazing rock formations at Valley of Fire State Park, or Red Rock Canyon. These places bring peace to your soul – something you can’t get on the strip.

We explored Red Rock Canyon yesterday and encountered Big Horned Sheep and wild burros. It was very exciting to see them. The wind was howling and the temperature in the low 40s, so we didn’t get a chance to hike much. It was blowing so hard last night that we pulled the slides in on the RV.

This morning it was snowing in Las Vegas, so we drove an hour to visit Valley of Fire State Park. What an amazing place. The rock formations are huge, red, and filled with holes. One canyon we hiked in was covered in petroglyphs – some of the best specimens we’ve seen. We decided that this place requires a few days of exploration, so we’ll be coming back here in a week or so. Tomorrow we’re going out to Death Valley, so we probably won’t have email or cell service for five or more days.

The Strip

On our way to Las Vegas, we stopped to see the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, and spent a night in Bull Head City, AZ with old friends. Both areas were nicer than we expected, but get too hot in the summer.

We stayed at a super RV resort just south of the strip in Las Vegas, that has a bar, restaurant, two gorgeous pools, spa, and all the amenities. Our RV was nestled in among date palms, which felt great. We were surprised at the size of Las Vegas. It seems to go on forever in each direction.

The strip is a very odd place. Buildings that are made to look like New York, Venice, and Egypt are nestled among modern skyscrapers. Nothing feels real and the streets are filled with people taking pictures and carrying enormous glasses of alcohol or beer. It’s a Disneyland for adults, but we were amazed at the number of small children in strollers. Street hawkers try to get you to sign up for tours, or take their cards for “Women who want to meet you”. We walked through several casinos and played a little, but the cigarette and cigar smoke was thick. You can find every food imaginable but the prices are high.

Mary had a hard time with the strip. The cost of the buildings and illusions were astronomical and so much money was being wasted playing games and slot machines. It’s a town of excess. If all the money spent in Las Vegas was put to a good cause, we wouldn’t have any homeless or hungry people in America. We did manage to do our taxes here and it’s so good to have that done.

Desert Animals

Wherever we go, we look for animals. There are always signs warning about cougars, but we never see them. Finally, we saw one today, a massive lion, but unfortunately he was dead on I-10. The exits were few and far between, or we would have gone back and spent some time with him.

It’s still too cold in the desert for snakes, scorpions and tarantulas, but we’re starting to see some lizards. Here’s a photo of a friendly fellow and also a Desert spurred tortoise. What a grand being he was. And a small herd of Big Horned sheep.

Blythe Intaglios

Just outside of Blythe California, on the Arizona border, we visited the Blythe Intaglios. These are huge drawings of people with very long legs and arms, a horse and a spiral. They weren’t discovered until the 1930s when someone spotted them from an airplane. These figures were scraped into the desert crust and scientists are unable to date or understand who made them. Mary checked in with the Deva of the area who told her that they were 3,000 years old. Really? That’s hard to believe. Surely they would have been covered up or destroyed in all that time. We think that they are drawings of star beings that were made by the earthlings who saw them. What do you think?

Palm Springs hiking

We’re in Desert Hot Springs right now, still with Tammy and visiting bob’s nephew and his family. We really like the towns south of I-10 (Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells) but we’re not so keen on Desert Hot Springs and the northern area. There is a great rift and uplifted area here though, that is the southern end of the San Andreas Fault line.

We spent a day exploring Palm and Andreas Canyons, both natural oases. Palm Canyon is 15 miles long. The creeks were running well due to some rain the day before. (Bob and Mary are rain magnets.) There is also more snow on the mountains behind Palm Springs today. It seems so odd to see snow covered mountains in the desert, but it makes for a lovely backdrop. The date palms are gorgeous too.

The Living Desert Zoo and Botanical Garden was a wonderful stop.