Dodging Deserts' Winds

I have loved and often visited 'cold' North American deserts over the last 40 years: the Okanogan and Columbia Plateaus, much of the Great Basin, the Snake River Plain, and special places in the uplands of Wyoming, Colorado and northern Arizona. Some of these spots will be part of my 2024 travel loop, but not until summer.

https://databayou.com/usa/deserts.html

In the first leg of this journey, I intended to spend early April in 'warm' deserts when days are not yet hot and the evenings are crisp and I hoped to get far enough southeast by April 8th for a decent (albeit) partial eclipse view [which worked out well!].

Reflecting today (April 19th) I realize that I as I alternately followed AND modified my itinerary to adjust for predicted/realized windstorms, I ended up visiting all three of the warm deserts of North America in the last two weeks!

The Mohave (Mojave) - A small, rain shadow desert that includes Death Valley and uniquely features Joshua Trees.

The Sonoran - A large, hot desert with a bimodal precipitation regime (winter Pacific storms and summer monsoons) and 'forests' of Saguaro cactus.

The Chihuahuan - A very large, extremely dry shrub desert with a variety of yuccas and agaves of which only a small portion is in the USA.

Despite many differences, they all have WIND in common. This is NOT shocking to me as a Geomorphologist that respects and understands Aeolian processes ... but logistically important to this trailer-towing driver.

The Mojave crossing included a very efficient overnight in a Flying J truck stop parking lot (Apr 3)

with an early departure (based on wind forecasts that proved quite accurate) to make Needles before the worst of it (Apr 4).

Enjoyed watching the dust blow by in a little RV park on Hwy 95 with the trailer stablized and powered up.

The relative calm the next morning (Apr 5) made driving the big 'woop-de-dos' down into the Colorado River corridor fun;

even if seeing yet another big river transformed into flat water was distressing. But it was special to stop in Parker AZ and make a side trip to the spot where my dad's final RV trip (and life on this planet) abruptly ended.

As I drove further south into the Sonoran, winds got pretty harsh again and I was happy to overnight at a Boondockers Welcome (BW) spot in Quartzite.

Sweet morning birdsongs and light winds made for a nice send off east on I-10. I veered south along the Gila River (well the remnants of it) and struggled with both appreciating the

agricultural productivity thus enabled and regretting the extent and implications of industrial animal feedlot systems.

Along with invasive thoughts about ethical water resource and carbon management...my mind pondered the diverse types and scales of energy infrastructure I had seen in the desert so far: lone windmills (decrepit and functional), sprawling wind farms climbing mountain passes, solar arrays spanning valley floors, solar panels (including 200W on the roof of my trailer), natural gas pipelines and stations, stacks of coal-fired plants, etc.

Spectacular scenery and a quiet, remote site with an incredible night sky at Painted Rock Petroglyph campground soothed me back to tourist-mode.

My Sonoran desert exploration was limited to highway corridors, but they do not dissapoint. Following I-8 east along the Sonoran Desert National Monument provides robust evidence of the flora density and diversity (even if I don't know the species).

I-10 offered convenient, spacious, modern camping and dramatic vistas at Picacho Peak SP (Apr 7),

A day trip (Apr 9) over the Tuscon Mountain Park loop provides access to vast, contiguous national and county parklands

and the Sonoran Desert Museum.

Before leaving the eastern edge of the Sonoran, a short drive south on Hwy 90 is a gateway to the Coronado National Forest and Kartchner Caverns SP.

The afternoon breeze was welcome (not too aggressive) and allowed a little wandering near the campground (Apr 11).

Turns out we hit most of the Sonoran Desert USA 'hot spots':

Our crossing from SE Arizona into SW New Mexico (Apr 12) was a bit of a struggle against cross winds, repeated steep inclines, broad range crests and sweeping descents as well as >2k feet of net elevation gain (passing through Silver City NM) ... but it got us to the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Camping at the City of Rocks SP was a hoot (after NERVOUSLY backing the trailer UP into a narrow sloping site surrounded on three sides by near-vertical to overhanging rock walls). We stayed a couple days, sheltered from NW wind gusts, but exposed to SW gusts that funneled between the rock pillars!

An enthusiastic thumbs up review off White Sands NM (from my total eclipse-chaser son Oliver) inspired my route choice for the next few days (deeper into the Chihuahuan). East of Las Cruces I was delighted by the chance to camp at Aguirre Springs (Apr 14),

a BLM site perched high on deeply dissected fans that flank the base of the Organ Mountains' distinctive crest.

A regional scale windstorm the next day (Apr 15) prompted a lazy day in Las Cruces and a comfy two night trailer set up with BW hosts.

Touring White Sands sans trailer in my 4Runner (Apr 16) was liberating and FUN. While some of that gypsum had been carried away the day before,

plenty active and stabilized dunes were left to marvel at and romp across.

A great finish for my brief excursion in the Chihuahuan Desert.