The Desert

The Mojave desert is place where it's still possible to get away from civilization and enjoy solitude.  The days can be brutally hot, but when the sun gets low on the horizon, the temperature begins to drop quite quickly.  Some of the coldest nights I've ever spent have been out on the desert in the summer.

Night also brings the stars.  The desert sky is huge, and without the light pollution of cities and towns, you can see the Milky Way.  You may be two hundred miles from Las Vegas, but you can see its yellow glow from beyond the horizon.  If you bring along a radio, you can tune in radio stations from hundreds of miles away.

In the morning there is a brief period time when the desert is cool.  This is the time to make coffee and eat breakfast because as soon as the blow torch sun rises above the horizon, it's going to get hot.

Thunderstorms out on the desert are a sight to behold.  The sky becomes very dark and lightning splits the sky.  The sky above you may be clear, and you may be standing in the sunlight watching a huge black mass of  thunderheads pouring hail onto the desert floor a mile away.  I've seen the desert floor turn white from a mass of hail half a mile from where I was standing in the sun watching it come down.

After the rain, the smells of the desert are released  and float on the breeze.  Nothing compares to the scent of creosote and sage and salt bush and juniper after a rain.

The desert holds many mysteries: roads that go nowhere, strange little buildings seemingly without purpose, petroglyphs and ruined settlements, odd lights in the night sky, and hermits who only wish to be left alone.

If you know what you're looking at, you can see mountain ranges sinking into the playa as great, alluvial fans carry away the soil and rocks from their summits and lay them at their feet.  It's possible to look back in time a million years.