The deserts of the Southwest have a scary reputation — hot, dusty and forbidding, the habitat of all things prickly and poisonous. Cacti, tarantulas, scorpions and rattlers live out there. So do gila monsters, chuckwallas and even solpugids. Frightening things in a frightening place?
Not exactly. The springtime desert has a different face, a gentle face all the more beautiful for its contrast to the harsh conditions that prevail most of the year. For a short time, maybe only several weeks, temperatures are mild, the sky is blue and water flows in seasonal streams. Biting insects are few, but songbirds, butterflies and wildflowers are abundant. In good years, dense carpets of blossoms fill the air with fragrance.
No wonder Northerners, weary of winter, head to the arid lands of southern Utah, Arizona and Southern California for a blast of warm sunshine. Even those who live in warm climates revel in the manifold pleasures of desert spring.
There’s also a practical reason for going in spring: It’s about the only time you can travel freely. Places you wouldn’t consider visiting in summer because of brain-boggling heat can be deliciously pleasant in the spring. Conditions are right for hiking, mountain biking, bird-watching, rock climbing, canyoneering or simply car camping.
A good example is Canyonlands National Park in Utah, where some of the most interesting landscape becomes nearly unbearable in the depth of summer. Nichols Expeditions of Moab runs supported mountain bike trips on desert trails. Its most popular is a five-day backcountry excursion along the White Rim, a prominent sandstone ledge overlooking the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. It’s not a particularly strenuous route, but in summer it would be a severe endurance test.
Susan Jett, office manager for Nichols, says most of their clients come for the scenery, which, being mostly rock, doesn’t change much with the season. However, spring adds an extra layer of beauty.
“It’s our green season. We don’t get big blankets of wildflowers, but with the red rocks behind them, you really notice when plants turn green.”
Add yellow, if you count the lavishly fragrant blossoms of cliffrose; or pink, red, white and purple if your eye goes to claret cup cacti, mariposa lilies, asters, datura and a hundred others. As for the weather, it can be unsettled.
“Our springs are wetter than people think of a desert being,” Jett warns. March can be rainy and cold. April brings windstorms that last for days. “It gets pretty rugged, but when it’s calm, it can be stunning.”
Spring doesn’t arrive everywhere at once. It hits the lower deserts first, then moves to higher elevations. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, for instance, in southern Arizona, is known for its near-pristine assortment of Sonoran Desert plants and animals. There is excellent hiking among the many-branched organ pipe cacti, saguaro cacti and elephant trees. There are cactus wrens and roadrunners and hummingbirds. But March and April are the time to go; by June, temperatures routinely top 100 degrees.
Wildflowers are among Organ Pipe’s chief attractions. In good years, when plenty of gentle, soaking rain falls in autumn and early winter, seemingly barren patches of gravel sprout carpets of orange Mexican poppies, Ajo lilies, asters, lupines and many more. Annual flowers usually emerge in March. Cacti bloom a bit later. In exceptional years, both might flower at the same time.
Veteran desert landscape photographer Jeff Foott often heads for California’s Mojave National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park or Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Here, the major species are sand verbena and several varieties of primrose. Timing is tricky, but Foott says the peak can last two or three weeks. Flowers like evening primrose put out new blossoms every night, so every day there’s something fresh. He says conditions vary from place to place, so it’s worthwhile to ask around. If the bloom is fading in one location, it may be just coming on somewhere nearby. (Check with park offices, or call the regional flower hotlines in the story accompanying this one.)
Even if flowers aren’t your chief interest, it’s worth paying attention to them, because they indicate good conditions for desert activities of all kinds. If the flowers do well, so do the other living things that make spring in the desert such a rewarding experience.
IF YOU GO
INFORMATION
Nichols Expeditions: 800-648-8488.
Utah desert wildflower information: 801-581-5322.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument: 520-387-7661.
Arizona desert wildflower information: 602-481-8134.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Flower Hotline: 760-767-4684.
Southern California wildflower hotline: 818-768-3533.
Mojave National Preserve, Suite 202, 222 E. Main St., Barstow, CA; 760-255-8801.
Joshua Tree National Park Association: 760-367-5500.
California Wildflower Web site: www.calphoto.com
