This post is a little different than my usual posts. Holly asked why we hikers are so attracted to the desert. People have sought refuge, reflection and connection in the desert for millennia. Holly, I was mulling over how to answer your question for three days while climbing rocks, shuffling through deep sand, and sweating in the heat. This is my rough translation into words of the feelings I have about the desert.
In our modern society, we are often isolated from nature. We stayed indoors, walking from building to building, car to car. We surround ourselves with the noise of televisions, music, motors and the incessant hum of our appliances. We are so busy, wrapped up in our worries and tasks, that we forget to notice the simple pleasure of nature.
There is great beauty among the dry and hard land of the desert, however, you must open your senses to recognize it.
The colors of the desert are much more than shades of beige. The plants are usually sage, green or dark brown. When you see an agave plant bloom, you offer your respect as this beautiful display is the final act of its life and the plant will die shortly after. The mountains in the distance are often a dusty pink and purple color. The sky is very blue with white fluffy clouds passing over you. On top of mountains and mesas, a person can see a distance of 10 miles or more. You feel very small and insignificant in the desert.
Even on the most bleak-looking tables are small, inch-high plants bursting with yellow, purple and blue flowers. Among the tiny plants is an entire ecosystem of ants, beetles, spiders and other insects scurrying around. Wonderfully colored lizards and birds eat the insects and provide food for even larger animals.
The desert is calm but not silent. You can hear the wind before it cools you. The birds sing and chirp happily from dawn to dusk. Sometimes, from the bushes, a bird calls out “come here” or sounds like a lifeguard’s whistle. In the heat of the day, the rhythmic hum of cicadas and grasshoppers keeps you company.
When brushing certain plants you may smell cannabis, creosote, or even cherry cough drops. The desert never smells better than when it starts to rain. The air smells clean and moist, healthy earth.
Natural streams and springs are the wonders of the desert. You can hear and smell them from very far away. How much life here! Birds, insects, trees, small mammals and such a profusion of green plants and their flowers. Water never tastes better than when you’re feeling hot and thirsty and drinking from a cold desert spring.
The heat of the sun warms you and makes you feel like you are gaining every step. The sunset arrives later in all its splendor. The temperature drops rapidly at night. You wrap yourself up in your soft sleeping bag, all comfortable and cozy. You can venture out of your bed to gaze at the unfathomable number of stars. So many stars above make you feel small and yet aware of the greatness of everything.
Sometimes you pass by the bleached white bones of creatures that didn’t survive and they remind you that survival in this place is not guaranteed.
As you spend consecutive days in the desert, modern concerns and sensitivities disappear. You no longer worry about the negative news cycle, the dirt under your fingernails, or the smell of honestly earned human sweat.
The distances traveled are enormous in the desert. As you wander, your steps soften, your breathing deepens, and your mind quiets. In that moment you understand that you are also part of the desert. The fight to survive and even thrive is also within you.
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