Seen One Desert, Seen Them All?

Having spent time on the Gobi in Mongolia, Mohave in Arizona, Atacama in Northern Chile and the Sonoran Desert in Osoyoos, I can safely say no, not all deserts are created equal.  To be honest, the desert in Osoyoos is not really a desert but a step up from a desert and is known as shrub-steppe.  (No pun intended) There are also differing opinions as to what desert it belongs to, some saying it is part of the Great Basin Desert.  I tend to believe the Osoyoos tourism office. 

 

 

 

This coincidence of geographic confluence and a sister who hates winters had allowed me to live and explore one end of the Sonoran in Osoyoos and visit and explore the other end found in Arizona. 

 

 

 

 

I found the two ends to be very different from each other, in both flora and fauna. Take cacti for instance.  Types and sizes can vary greatly even in the same desert.

 

 

Cacti on the Canadian side are smaller, delicate and stealthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the American side, they are bigger and more in your face. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to some active and friendly, active snowbirds in my sister’s complex, we were invited to join them for a hike into the Superstition Mountains located in the Sonoran Desert east of Phoenix.  Cool, with temperatures in the low single digits, we found snow still present in the shady areas.  Cool but a perfect temperature to hike in the desert.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Superstitions are thought to be home of the famous Lost Dutchman Mine. With visions of gold nuggets dancing in our heads, we were up and out of the house early for the half hour drive to the trailhead and a wonderful morning hike.

 

 

A week later, found us exploring Sedona, a small artistic, New Age community (read “stuck in the Sixties) located in the mountains of north-central Arizona. It is a place where you can get your aura photographed and your chakra tuned up. 

 

 

 

Suffering from over exposure to tie dye t-shirts, old men with ponytails and old women in muumuus, we took another hike into the Sonoran Desert. We again found snow still present in places where the sun don’t shine and a completely different desert.  As an added bonus, the hike took us through one of Sedona’s famous spiritual vortices known as the Bell Rock Vortex.

 

 

 

No spiritual awakenings that day but we were certainly blown away by the colours and shapes of the rocks that we saw along the hike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fabulous end to our stay in Arizona.