When I learned to love the Desert

When I was a child, I was always told that the desert was ugly, dry, dusty…there was no beauty to be found in the desert. The only way I ever saw it was from the car as we drove through the empty landscape, so I believed the words I was told.

It was not until I was much older that I realize how wrong those words were.

My first real experience in the desert was when I drove to Zion National Park by myself. I know that is not a REAL desert, but as I returned year after year, I came to appreciate the beauty of the desert that surrounded both the drive into and out of the park. I enjoyed the anticipation of seeing the first images of the lofty red cliffs, and the changing scenery as I traversed the two-lane road into that beautiful place. I loved the trails inside the park that were covered in moss, dripping with water. I loved the sound of the virgin river as it carved its way through the canyon, and although not the dry, dusty deserts found in other places it opened the doors to what the desert can offer.

Later, my work offered me the opportunity to make trips out to the Northeast corner of Utah. This was a different kind of desert. Once past Strawberry Reservoir, the forest ends, and the desert begins. This is in a high desert area of the Colorado Plateau. This desert is white, and gray, with an occasional red thrown in here and there. If you hike the trails, you can find petroglyphs hidden among the cliffs. Sunsets are beautiful. I love Split Mountain where the Green River runs through on its way to join the mighty Colorado.

From the road you would never know what the west desert of Utah holds. I spent a weekend in this area and went on an adventure finding topaz, sunstone, hematite, obsidian, and other amazing treasures. Formations like the lava tubes, and the Lace Curtain make the desert here magical.

I drove through the middle of Idaho where I climbed the caves of Craters of the Moon National Monument, and I realized how very desolate a desert can be. Yet even here flowers found a way to bloom, trees gripped the ground with roots that dug deep, and even water in the form of ice could be found in the depth of the caves.

Southern Utah was where I truly learned to love the desert. Goblin Valley, Moab, Arches National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, and Monument Valley, each of these places spoke to my heart of the beauty that can be found in the desert. Secret water holes, where seeds take root, flowers that seem to grow out of nowhere, trees with amazing root systems that twist and turn seeking moisture. Lizards and rabbits hiding in the sagebrush. Bright, colorful sunsets with silhouetted cliffs to end the day, and whispers on the wind of the voices of those that had lived here before.

The Arizona desert showed me an entirely different landscape. Cacti forests, and yucca plants, red blossoms from the cactus plants. Winding through the Salt River Canyon, the Petrified Forest National Park, The Grand Canyon National Park, Wupatki National Monument, and so many others showed me the diversity of a desert landscape.

The desert is alive, it is diverse, it is desolate, it is vast, it is colorful, it is beautiful. The desert calls to my heart now. I find beauty even if I am in my car driving through its no longer empty landscape.