We're also starting to see some blooms following the rains of a few weeks ago. Not a lot, just some here and there, and mostly prickly pear.
Hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Sand Drifts
Highway 62 is the main artery that connects the high desert towns of Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and 29 Palms with Palm Springs and the other low desert towns east of Palm Springs in Southern California. It's got a personality all its own, and even though I've driven it many times, I'm always spotting new and interesting things.
Many of the roads branching off 62 are unpaved, and rare desert storms wash sand over the highway. It's not unusual to see plows scraping the sand off the road after a storm, identical to the process of snow plows in cold country. Here's our desert version of a "snow drift."
Just strikes me as ironic... after one of the coldest winters on record, with record snowfalls, the deserts deal with drifts of their own!
We're also starting to see some blooms following the rains of a few weeks ago. Not a lot, just some here and there, and mostly prickly pear.
We're also starting to see some blooms following the rains of a few weeks ago. Not a lot, just some here and there, and mostly prickly pear.
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Nice those pictures of a landscape so different as ours. Thanks for showing.
ReplyDeleteInteresting bit about the sand drifts. I never would have thought although I have compared sand blowing across the road in West Texas to snow blowing across here in Illinois. Love the cactus blooms. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteCool sand drifts... but it must be a pain to get the mail! Beautiful desert flowers!
ReplyDeleteI remember the desert blooming one time in the 9 years we lived there. There was nothing more spectacular - purple carpets of flowers - daisies - lilies - cactus of all sorts - stunningly glorious.
ReplyDeleteLove your sand drifts too - I remember, too, driving that road in a vicious sand storm - sand blasted one side of our car almost completely free of paint.
Interesting about the sand drifts. Always learning something here in bloggerville. :) Love that first shot--I think the pale orange color and telephone wires are what grab me.
ReplyDeleteThose Prickly Pears are beautiful. Learned something new on the sand drifts. Great captures!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots! Great captured! Love the second one!
ReplyDeleteThe prickly pear flowers are an incredible color. Not the usual yellow.
ReplyDeleteSand Drift are not a problem we get in Melbourne - central Australia possibly, but not here.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Az I did a days birding with a guide - it was not cheap, but it was great - I saw so many more birds than I would have done on my own.
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
I love seeing the morning light reflected off the hydro wires, as in your first image!! I have never seen enough sand on the roads that it had to be ploughed off - wonderful thoughts!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! I keep forgetting that not all of the world is knee-deep in snow, as we are!!!!
ReplyDeleteI adore your header, too.
Yes, we're seeing blooms down here, too! Especially the ocotillos and palo verde trees!
ReplyDeleteCheryl Ann ~~Beautiful photos!
What glorious light.
ReplyDeleteThe desert blooms are lovely! I am headed on a quick jaunt out I-40 in a couple weeks and I am hoping to see some Springtime out that way!
ReplyDeleteOh beautiful cactus flowers! I remember those drifts from the winters we spent in the area... also some people got their cars pitted by sand (we never had that problem).
ReplyDeleteThe captures of the prickly pear are so beautiful! I know they're edible, but never had the guts to try them:) Thanks for coming by my blog earlier!
ReplyDelete