Coyote Crossing

In the Arthur J. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park

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Yucca jaegeriana

A kind reader sent me the article I asked for in this post, and I’ve filed it away in the database. Most of the writing I do as regards the paper will be for the book, but it’s relatively big news and I just have to engage in the sobersided,

Wee Thump

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Gray

The first storm of winter will come a day from now, or two. At noon today the clouds arrived, a cirrus haze thin as a knife’s edge. Over Nevada the sky was still pale turquoise, but gray lowered in the west.

By two the sky was wrapped in

Letters from the desert: Good news about the devastating Hackberry Fire

I took it upon myself to answer the implied question I posed here, about the existence — or lack thereof — of surviving piñon pines in the Mid-Hills.

I drove up into the burn zone Tuesday for my first thorough look at the place. I’d been up there

Letters from the desert: Thresholds

Creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, grows in the lower elevations of the Mojave. At least it does so in places where the soil is not too alkaline. In the flattest part of this valley nothing grows, and the fringes of the dry lake are the domain of

Beauty

It is raining, a little. The wind off the little storm front brings the temperature down to a positively comfortable level. It’s almost cool. Not even 80°, and the scent of wet juniper and rock hangs in the air.

How long has it been since I’d

What the Ivanpah Airport would destroy

This is a view from the Spring Mountains southeast toward the site of the proposed airport.

I’ve put a few more such photos in a Flickr set, to be added to as time passes.

And if you’re in the mood for something less depressing, I’ve also

Letters from the desert: Raven Moon

Full moon a glint in The Raven’s eye and it drenches us in light. Sable sky bears a feathery sheen upon it. A moon-suffused cool smolder masks the stars.

Joshua trees raise arms toward the pale night sky. The Raven’s shoulder fits beneath my own.