The desert is a fickle companion .

[Harter66]

Mistress is probably a better word . It steals your heart and often your very soul .

While not exclusive to the landscape of Nevada folks are often quick to point out that everywhere in Nevada just over the next ridge is another dry lake and 8,000,000 acre of scrub brush in a dry barren waste land . Most of the desert rats would agree . This of course makes you really appreciate that little strip of green along the rivers , the runs of quaking aspens , and those little wet spot water seeps that make hunting big and upland game possible .

It's funny how the sand get under your skin and the sage oil into your blood , it even happens to people who aren't born and raised in in the sand and sage .

Recently we've been hot all over , maybe hotter than normal after a stupid long drawn out winter . I've seen a number of stories of folks baking cookies on their dashes and a gal that suffered a heat stroke because it didn't occur to her to roll down a window .
Us desert rats just smile knowingly and change out the case of water in the trunk or behind the seat with our favorite jacket .

Why water and a jacket ?
Because it's hot there's very little to no shade unless you brought it with you .
She will burn your skin in just a couple of hours of exposure . Often you have to pour the water on you not in you . Working in the daylight hours it's pretty easy to come up short on enough to drink every day on 4/10s by Thursday night I'm down a gallon drinking 2-3 gallons a day ......... Nope no hump but sometimes I feel like a camel the way I guzzle water at home in the evenings .
Just because there's shade doesn't mean your safer . A van with the back doors open and the shade side open can be 10-40° hotter than open air .

Good news , it does cool off at night ......... I've seen lots of nights where a 105° day lead into 55° night with a little heat exhaustion and a blistering sunburn or burns from getting up against the sunny side of something not plant based you can freeze to death .
I bet you thought the jacket was to cover up a window , steering wheel , ground or fender if you had to work on something didn't you ?

God help help you if it rains . Sure the plants and ground soak up a lot of water but it can't soak it all up ........ I wish I could count the stories I've heard/read about people drowned in the desert miles from anything wet .
It's the only place in the world where you can cross in and out of a rain storm in just a few steps in fact I've seen hard lines of wet and dry ground of no more than inches .
In the mountain areas a thunderstorm base will be over 15,000 ft with tops upwards of 25,000 so when it rains it's cold water . Often the hail is just slush after a 3 mile fall . Can you grasp 35° rain water ? How about 35° rain falling on a 100° day ?
We all know that thunder storms tend to dump a lot of water in a small space in a short time . The desert storm is no different , it will drop 1/4" 2 miles wide and 7-8 miles long . The bare ground on a 100° day however can be 140-180° . The dirt can be so dry and dust so fine that it actually won't accept the rain at first so that first part of the storm seeks low places followed by the saturation run of of the last part . Viola' flash flood 15 miles away some unsuspecting dry pan prospector or rock hound gets caught flat footed by a rush of water that's gonna in under a minute and completely dried up by the time his/her truck is found the next day .

Under one of these storms the 30-40° rain brings with it cold air and since the humidity even in the middle of the down pour is only in the 40% range it turns it into an evaporative cooler . I drove through one last weekend it was 102 just before I hit the rain , at the core of it it bottomed out at 62° . It was 103 just 2 miles out the other side . With humidity in the teens a shirt wet with cold water will change 20° ....... Get caught in shorts and a tee shirt and a slow moving thunderstorm and you could freeze to death .

Yep the desert is a cruel mistress . She will burn your skin until it sluffs off the first day freeze you to death or drown you in the life source water and bake to medium rare the second day .

Wait'll I tell you about the winters !

[Echo]

Tell it like it is, Mate!

[ShooterAZ]

Having lived in the desert southwest my entire life I can completely relate. In a 50 mile radius of where I live, you can go from the Sonoran desert to Alpine tundra above tree line. On a clear day you can see over a hundred miles easily. What I love most about where I live is the riparian areas, with spring fed creeks that run year round through the desert. A true desert oasis with ferns, flowers, and all manner of birds and wildlife.

[merlin101]

Sounds like a nice vacation spot! We actually did spend a week out there and loved it, but that was in the spring and we still used the AC a lot.

[Char-Gar]

I have always been partial to the arid desert country. I like the quite and solitude. That country does have it's ways and you best understand them if you are to live there.

[Hick]

You didn't mention how, in the very low humidity of the desert, you can actually smell the water coming. I used to use up a lot of film years ago just taking pictures of beautiful thunderstorms in the desert from a distance-- such amazing sights with colors of the rainbow.

[corbinace]

My four years living in Yuma still hold fond memories. I will return eventually as a dreaded snowbird.

[Harter66]

I didn't mention how a little rain can change the look of the whole landscape . I've been across I 40 and I 10 from the Pacific to almost Louisiana and well across Arkansas , born dead center in the Mojave desert (Mo'- hovie) and raised on the west rim of the great basin by way of Canyonlands and Arches National Park .

There's a place north west where the tailings mounds change from desert sand to Lady Liberty green . The lava fields go from rusty tar to black to brick red . The painted desert is well deserving of that name .

The smells after a good rain !!!!

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I have spent a lot of time in the desert and while I find it as fascinating as you, I have learned, it will show you no pity.

[quilbilly]

Once you get sage and greasewood oil in your veins, it is tough to get out and it will require returning. I know. I live in the jungle (aka rainforest) of the Olympic Peninsula but I crave every trip back as will you when you make your move.

[Artful]

Mother Nature know no pity - the Desert, the Sea, the Mountains, the Forests - all hold dangers

Heck even the Cities - best beware in any environment.

[Thumbcocker]

Mrs. Thumbcocker and I have made to trips to southern Utah and plan on a third. What strikes me is the quiet. One morning I got up early and sat on a rock above the BLM camping spot we stayed at. A raven flew by 40 or so yard away and I could hear the squeak of his wing feathers. I am also fascinated by the amount of life there if you walk along and look at it. And the sky so deep and clear that if you lie on your back it almost feels like you could fall Up into it. Yup I like me some desert.

[BNE]

Sounds like the beginning of a great story.

Well written Harter66.

[GhostHawk]

Funny thing is a lot of what you guys are talking about is also true up here in the Red River Valley of NW Minnesota and NE Dakota.

Flatter than flat, fall normally in the 2-3 inches per mile range going north south. A little more moving east or west up out of the valley. Barren and desolate at times.
Extremes tend to be more of cold up here. Although we don't see Nevada heat we do normally have a couple of months of 90's weather with often a week or 3 of 100's around harvest season.

At times you would swear nothing lives within 100 miles in any direction.
And at other times life is everywhere, flourishing, and is singing about it.

Springtime when the grass comes back green and the tree's leaf out it can be so green that it hurts.

No mountains or high hills around here so at times it can be hard to know how far you are looking. Yet I have seen heat mirage over snow showing clearly buildings that I know for fact were 21 miles away. Thing is they appeared above the horizon a significant amount. One day it was so good we got out the binoc's and compared notes. We could see a grain elevator complex that I know is at least 21 miles as the crow flys from where we were.

But I grew up in this big sky country, I've seen a lot of the country one time or another but nothing else ever felt like home. I think the country gets in your blood. And each generation just adds to that. But what do I know. I'm just an ol farm boy who drifted into town.

[bedbugbilly]

Great write up! I've been to the Nevada desert and it truly is unique. We winter south of Tucson - not exactly like the Nevada desert but still desert.When we first bought out place out thereabout nine years ago, I admit that I was somewhat hesitant as to how I would like it. I was raised on a farm in lower Michigan where I roamed the farm and woods and enjoyed the four seasons. It took me a couple of years to fully fall in love with the desert around us but now, I really miss it when we come back to Michigan for the summer. Yea . . . a lot of "brown" but you learn to appreciate the Cottonwoods where there is water and each cactus is a unique creation. If you look at the desert and don't study it, you are missing a lot. After a while, you begin to see the creatures that live and survive in that climate - bobcats, coyotes, rabbits, javelins, quail, roadrunners, and the busy little "squeakers" as they run around in their colonies - not to mention the spiders, snakes and other critters.

Walking the dogs the first time the morning is my favorite time of day. It's often cool but as soon as the sun rises, you feel the warmth. It doesn't take much of a rainfall - just enough to gently wet the vegetation and it creates a whole experierience. The desert smells like "fresh linen" thanks to the creosote bushes and it just puts a smile on your faced ad brightens your day. And the mesquite? i love looking at the twisted and bent limbs of the old trees that have survived heat, monsoons, droughts and still stand witness to the fact that nature still provides enough to keep things in balance.

I chuckled when you made your comment about your jacket. Most folks who have never experienced the desert have the mistaken idea that it is always warm - not so. Yep, the sun warms things up but at night, the darkness cools things down. In the winter, we have experienced night time temperatures of 18 degrees - and frost on the windshields of cars parked outside - but when that sun comes out the next day - it just warms you up all over. I was never a big "water drinker" but we learned fast to always carry water with us and to keep hydrated.

And what's that saying . . . "yea, it's hot but it's a dry heat." :-)

[lightman]

Nice Post. I'm a Louis L'amour fan and always enjoyed reading his stories about the desert. He has a reputation for accurately describing a place and your post verifies this.

[OS OK]

It's easy to see your love for your part of this wonderful country of ours...the desert...well...it'll stick, scratch or cut you or just sit there and watch as you dehydrate and what's hiding under the brush and cacti will sting, bite or outright kill you...what's not to like?

Desert folk prolly...are some of the last of the people in this country that have that pioneer spirit so lacking in modern society today (may their DNA rule)...people who enjoy having a little elbow room between them and their neighbors. Not measured in feet but...miles.

My favorite part of the desert is the night life and a big campfire, good food cooking, my children and ice cold brewskies and the skies so full of points of light that it makes you wonder where all of that came from...you don't see it in the city.

The Desert...a world unto itself.

[Idaho Mule]

That was a very well written piece Richard. You would surely love a visit to Hells Canyon. JW

[wildwilly]

As I type, the local temp (2330 hrs PDT) is 95F. There's two kinds of folks who live and work here....tough and tougher.

[dragon813gt]

All that is why I don't live there and have no desire to. I will take high humidity and dense forests any day of the week. Plenty of things to kill you here. I just prefer the landscape to be green and water always close by.

[Blackwater]

Great writeup, Harter! I really enjoyed all of it. I live on the southern coastal plain of Ga., not far from Savannah. Here, it's swamps, and I feel much the same way about them as you do about the desert. One comes to learn his "home land" no matter what the qualities it holds. The swamps are a great place for a boy to learn to become a man - lots to deal with, and plenty of it will kill you. And in the swamps, there's also those pesky biting insects, like 'skeeters, sand gnats (in some places) and all manner of horse and yellow flies (some of those things will leave whelps the size of a goose egg!). "Home," once we truly come to know it - IF we truly come to know it - is always a place full of fascination, challenge and the lure of adventure. And it's always a challenge to really get to know "Mother Nature" no matter where you are. I love the swamps because they're so very full of life of all sorts - just teeming with it! Much of it can bite you, and many plants will make you itch, and if you don't learn to be observant, you're in for a rather "itchy" time, or worse. Step on just one moccasin or rattler, and your day is plum ruint!!! But learn to live and move among all this, and it's one more fascinating place.

I've always loved stories and descriptions of deserts like yours, because it's so foreign to me here in the swamps - essentially almost the exact reverse of the deserts. I got in a little moderate sagebrush type terrain when I was in CA, but never really got to appreciate it. We had to leave because we hadn't brought enough water, just as you observe above. Heat was over 100* that day, and we dared not outstay our water! You write with obvious feeling and love of the country, and I'm glad you do. Helps an old swamp rat like me understand the allure of the desert more fully. It's be a huge change for this ol' country boy, but I'd love to try to get to know it as you do!

[Love Life]

Once you get sage and greasewood oil in your veins, it is tough to get out and it will require returning. I know. I live in the jungle (aka rainforest) of the Olympic Peninsula but I crave every trip back as will you when you make your move.

Gospel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jonp]

Having lived in the desert southwest my entire life I can completely relate. In a 50 mile radius of where I live, you can go from the Sonoran desert to Alpine tundra above tree line. On a clear day you can see over a hundred miles easily. What I love most about where I live is the riparian areas, with spring fed creeks that run year round through the desert. A true desert oasis with ferns, flowers, and all manner of birds and wildlife.

What I loved about Flagstaff. In the winter you could be in snow and in a little while drop off the rim into 75-80 weather.

[David2011]

The swamps can be scary. It's eat or be eaten there. I lived in South Louisiana when I joined this group but was born in and have returned to Southeast New Mexico. When explaining this area to someone that hasn't been here I tell them that the road to El Paso was established by the Butterfield Stage Coach line and as soon as you leave paved roads you're right back in the Old West. A vehicle breakdown or injury can be life threatening. I enjoy the desert but even for an afternoon jackrabbit hunt I take lots of water and survival supplies.

[Jr.]

I love the desert, but you forgot to mention how everything that grows here will stick you and everything that crawls here will sting you. It is as you say in my blood. But it can be a haphazard if you are unaware of the land. As well as a blessing if you are.

[MT Gianni]

I spent a lot of time in Utah's west desert growing up and just don't feel right away from sage. I live in a high desert now with less than 10" or annual rain but it is more grass than sand. I never really cared for the Mohave, preferred more vegetation. Both the Sonora and Chihuahua deserts have too many poky things for my taste now.

[lancem]

Wouldn't think of being any where else..

[quilbilly]

One amazing thing about the northern and central Nevada desert is that there is a lot of water everywhere if you know where to look due to the geology. Every tiny creek that may only run for a mile or so has trout in it. Most tourists bypass it thinking it is bleak. When you find that high spot with the 100 mile view, sunrises are God's gift to you. Those sunrises bring tears to my eyes every time. If you want to see more of Nevada, check out - http://alerttahoe.seismo.unr.edu:8080/

[onceabull]

It took me growing up and sending wifey #1 off to torment others to begin to halfway appreciate the ION desert country..All the way from Lakeview,to Wells,NV. memories won't leave me now, at least until I'm supping with Peter,of N.T.fame.. Have photo's of a nice Muley buck my Pard shot while it was kneedeep in Big Springs creek while slipping away from me while is I was still 2-3 twists upstream after an hour long stalk..this was about 1000 yds west of the upper Battle creek bridge on the old stage road from Elko,Nv.to Silver,City,Id..Hung the meat from the old bridge timbers for all day shade,while we "persevered"...Onceabull