The Desert is... GREEN*??!
Updated: Sep 7, 2023
*well, sometimes.
I wandered to Mesa (near Phoenix), Arizona for a week in February 2023 and had so much fun I went back a month later for 10 more days. This was my first trip to Arizona as an adult; therefore, I'm just going to call this my first romp through the Sonoran Desert, and It.Was.FABULOUS!
When I think of Phoenix, I think of those pictures that circled around the internet a few summers back that showed road signs melting. Granted, it was proven that the road signs were not melting from the 120+ degree Fahrenheit temperatures, but still... 120+ degrees - my PNW sparkle cannot handle that!
I had this vision in my mind that hiking around Phoenix would be similar to wandering through a vast, desolate landscape with sparse cacti and the occasional animal skull, desperately searching for water (thanks, Hollywood).
ABOVE-AVERAGE RAINFALL
Hailing from the great PNW, I am no stranger to rain. Do I have a ridiculous number of waterproof boots and jackets? Yes, yes I do; that's pretty much what I live in from October to June. Umbrellas? No, definitely not, are you even a real Seattleite if you use an umbrella?! (Interesting read on climate change and umbrella use in Seattle.)
My brother once asked me how I could stand living here with all of the rain. My answer: "We rarely get downpours like what we get in Colorado, it's just a persistent light rain for days. It's the grey skies and lack of sunshine that gets me." In fact, we are no strangers to going 60+ days without sunshine in the winter and spring. Happy lights are a real thing. So are alarm clocks with sunrise and sunset simulation.
2022 shattered records in western Washington and went down in the history books as the warmest and driest summer on record. October 2022 was the warmest October since records began in 1895! In terms of rain, Seattle only recorded 0.48" of precipitation from July 1st to October 9th. This trend carried through the winter and into the new year with Seattle having its driest January in 22 years (January 2023).
But I thought we were talking about Phoenix? 🤔💭
While Seattle was having its driest January in 22 years, Phoenix was having above-average rainfall. Phoenix rang in the new year with just over half an inch of rain, more than it saw from January 1st through July 15th of 2022. Phoenix closed out the first 3 months of 2023 with 2.88" of total precipitation (more than 5x the total amount of precipitation from January 1st through July 15th of 2022).
If you water it, it will grow.
SHOWERS BRING FLOWERS, OR SUPERBLOOMS....
I got off the airplane in Phoenix at noon on February 11. Two hours later, I was hiking Butcher Jones Trail with my mom and a couple of friends. When they asked me what I thought of the desert, I quickly replied, "I didn't expect it to be this green!" By the end of that first week, I knew the desert was about to explode with color and I needed to come back to witness it.
I returned to Mesa on March 5th and spent another 10 glorious days exploring more of the Sonoran Desert. Toward the end of my trip, photos started circulating on social media of the massive superbloom happening at Picacho Peak. I'd never seen anything like it and knew I needed to get to Picacho somehow. I made arrangements to tackle the Picacho Peak hike for my last day in Arizona, but life happens, and plans change. As luck would have it, we randomly picked a hike that gave me a preview of the superbloom that was about to happen in and around the Superstition Wilderness. The full beauty of the superbloom hit the area I had been exploring a week after I left.
SUPERBLOOM?
If you're familiar with wildflower season in the Rockies or the Cascades, then you're probably thinking, "I see superblooms every summer during wildflower season..." I mean, yes, but no. A superbloom is actually specific to the desert and quickly becoming a once-in-a-lifetime experience, thanks to rural development, the introduction of invasive plants, climate change, and assholes walking off the trail (you know who you are, and no, we aren't laughing).
Simply put a superbloom is a rare desert botanical occurrence in which thousands of wildflowers bloom at the same time. For this to happen, conditions have to be just right: years of drought to kill invasive plants followed by a good rain year (rain is consistent over several months); cool nighttime temperatures; and a high seed bank.
Learn more about superblooms in this National Geographic article.
TO WANDER, OR NOT TO WANDER
If you have the opportunity to visit the Sonoran Desert in the winter months, especially during a rainy winter, I highly recommend it. Seeing the desert thriving (swollen saguaros, green shrubs, wildflowers, honey bees) was magical and changed my perception of the desert.
Arizona has captured this wanderer's heart. I will be back. My Arizona TW (to-wander) list is rapidly growing.
As always, please follow leave-no-trace principles - stay on designated trails and roads, pack out all trash, and don't trample or pick flowers in your quest for the perfect photo. Walker Canyon in California is still closed (as of 4/5/23) after suffering damage from visitors during its 2019 superbloom. Be a part of the solution, not the problem.
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