I love deserts. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a swamp. Maybe it’s because of the rock, the hard-edged faces, the difficulty of the landscape. I think it’s because of the absolute silence in the desert. It is perfectly quiet, perfectly still. Not all the time, but most of the time. I am especially drawn to deserts that are somehow knocked out of their element. Last time I saw this was when I watched the remnants of hurricane Ivan dump the amount of water Big Bend would get in ten years in two days. So you can imagine my delight when I found that the Mojave desert had been hit by this latest winter storm.
Anytime something like this happens in a desert, all sorts of strange things start happening. Different plants will bloom, odd animals will suddenly appear. So you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled across the extremely rare Andean Snow Beast!
RAAAAAAAAAAR!
Extraordinary. Isn’t wildlife amazing.
I love deserts too – many people don’t understand it. (Esp here in the UK where most have never seen one.) I once wrote about grief relating it to desert, and someone said the barrenness of the desert was appropriate. Astonished me as i hadn’t thought of that angle at all.
Merry X!