December in the Desert
Winter is the time to wander through the Sonoran Desert, enjoying the unique terrain and perfect weather - Issue # 36
The Sonoran Desert has been our home for the past 32 years.
And, while we travel a lot, by December we always come back. This is the season to wander through the desert, to enjoy our surroundings.
Our desert home is not exactly in the middle of the wilderness. It isn’t a tiny home or tent surrounded by cacti. We live in a city, one of the largest cities in all the US. However, our home in a subdivision with a postage-stamp-size backyard, reflects our environment.
A 30-year-old organ pipe cactus we planted soon after we moved here lives in our yard. So does a huge waxy torch of the same age, and a tiny pincushion cactus that had grown “babies” over the years, now all living in a cluster.
The rest of our yard is now also a piece of wild desert, with native plants growing where they want to. Instead of tormenting non-native plants struggling to grow (and using too much water to do so), we let the plants that want to be here live. Our HOA may call them “weeds”, but I call them native plants and cherish them. Out on the trails, everyone loves them. So why banish them from our yards?
But our tiny yard can only hold so many plants.
To enjoy the desert environment, we often walk through the preserves in and around the city.
This time of the year. Never in the summer.
As the temperatures fall, allowing us to go outside, I remember why we moved here, why I love this environment.
This is the time to wander through the desert, to enjoy its wonders.
Even in an enormous city like Phoenix, we have plenty of desert preserves where we can wander among cacti, palo verde trees, fragrant creosote bushes, and other desert plants we never even heard about before moving here.
With trail names like “Cactus Wren”, “Desert Tortoise”, “Hawk’s Nest” or “Sidewinder”, the preserves offer a glimpse into what to expect when wandering through these areas.
Not that you will always see a hawk circling overhead (though we often do), or desert tortoise wandering across the trail (which I have never seen), but you know there you might see one.
More often though, I’ve come across desert hares, road runners, rattlesnakes and families of quails crossing the trails.
Once I even saw a large pack of coyotes crossing the trail in front of me. It was years ago, and I often think of it, wishing it would happen again. I stopped, watching them in awe, and they all looked at me, as if in a greeting, as they passed. I wish I had a photo or video of the encounter, but even without it, I will always remember it.
Whatever else we see, though, Gambel’s quails are always around. Since they are always in groups, when I see one, I know I’ll see a family, so I stop and look for them. Without fail, I always see a family running around with their tiny headpiece bobbing up and down.
A family of them often comes into our yard. I used to watch them from the window, as two of the larger ones sat on the wall, watching for cats - and other dangers -, while the family was running around in our yard, eating the seeds of our native plants on the ground. Just like the ones I see in the desert preserves.
With or without wildlife, the Sonoran Desert is beautiful in December. And all the way through early May.
As I walk along the trail, I often stop to admire some of the larger saguaros. They are all over a hundred years old. I know because they have multiple arms reaching to the sky. Saguaros only start growing arms around the time they are 80 years old. By the time they grow multiple arms, they reach a century of age.
Rocky hills block the street view and noise from the nearby busy areas on the trail. By the time we are halfway through, homes and streets disappear along with the noise associated with them. We feel like we are in a desert wilderness.
We hike stretches of the trail with no other human in sight, but during the full outing, we always meet a few fellow hikers and bikers. Still, on a morning walk in the middle of a huge metropolitan area, we can feel far away from civilization.
No matter how often I hike in the desert, I can never get over the resilience of the plant and animal life here. It hasn’t rained in months. The desert floor looks scorched. And yet, palo verde trees and the giant saguaros, cholla cacti and creosote bushes are still green, waiting patiently for rain, whenever it may come.
The giant saguaros are skinnier than I normally see them, their accordion-like spines shrinking as they use up all the water they have stored. I know that as soon as they get even a few drops of water, they will expand to absorb as much as possible.
Hope it won’t be too long. But, however long it may take, the desert plants and animals are patiently waiting.
With or without rain, December in the desert is a great time to experience the outdoors. Even in the middle of a city - as long as you can get to a nature preserve.
Thank you for sharing your landscape! Here, we have snow and cold temperatures.
The desert has such a different beauty. For me it took some adjusting to. My best friend lived in Santa Fe for years and we'd stop enroute to Mexico each year, when we still drove down. Although SF is not a specific desert, it's aridness, arroyos, et al seem similar.