March-April 2019 -- Spring In The Nevada Desert

My apologies as it's now October 19 and I'm just getting around to posting about the rest of my boondocking stay at the Overton mesa earlier this year. What can I say except time flies and I get lazy. So without further ado here's a brief conclusion to the transition from winter to spring in the SE Nevada desert. 

March 7 -- It's been two weeks since the rare snowfall at the Valley of Fire but the rain sticks around for awhile longer. This was taken at one of my favorite spots for reflections and it's right along the White Domes Scenic Byway road. 

March 8 -- My friends Reb and Romain Babcock are also boondocking on the mesa; here's Reb after we hiked to the hills in the background looking for photo-ops. 

March 18 -- I'm a member of Lance Owners of America and posted about the Overton area on the online forum.  A few other "Lancers" came by for a few days to check things out. Here's Harriet,  a member who like me owns a Lance 1685 trailer. I took her to see some of my favorite areas including Gold Butte National Monument's Falling Man. 

March 26 -- The record-breaking wet winter is finally over and the wildflowers start to come out. Silverleaf Sunray is unique to the area around Lake Mead, growing only in gypsum-rich soil. This was taken along Northshore Road about 5 miles from the boondocking mesa. Those are the Virgin Mountains in the far distance. 

April 2 -- This desert horned lizard was only about 100 yards from my boondocking site. I nearly stepped on him as he blended in perfectly with the rocky ground. Desert horned lizards are referred to as "horny toads" but they're lizards, not toads. Go figure. 

Also on April 2 this is my boondocking site at sunset, looking to the east. There was only one other RVer this far out on the mesa.

April 6 -- California Bearpoppy, also called Las Vegas Bearpoppy, is similar to Silverleaf Sunray in that it grows in gypsum-rich soils. In fact, both forbs can sometimes be found near each other. It's a rare plant that has been considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

April 12 -- I usually head back home after my stay at Overton around the middle of March but it had been such a wet winter that I wanted to see the wildflowers set in the unique landscape of the Valley of Fire.  It wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, but it was still a sight that's rarely seen  in that abundance. Here are Desert Primrose along the White Domes Scenic Byway. 

April 14 -- I did quite a few hikes along the Northshore Road, looking for wildflowers.  This is gravel ghost, also known as tobacco weed and parachute plant. It prefers living in gravelly washes which is where I found it. 

April 22 -- On this day I did a drive to the high-desert corner of southwest Utah near the Nevada border and came upon this huge area of lupine. Hoping to come across scenes like this is why I extended my stay in SE Nevada.  Success!  

Also on April 22 -- It's an unusual sight to see wildflowers you usually associate with higher elevations mixed in with cactus, and the cactus blooms made it extra special. 

I finally headed in the direction of home at the beginning of May but I had a few more adventures along the way; next up, ambling along the old Route 66 and a visit to Petrified Forest National Park.

Nov-February 2019 -- After Alaska, A Rare White Winter in the Desert Southwest

I didn't stay very long back home in Portal before taking off again to southern California to spend the holidays with my dad. I'd dropped my trailer "Discovery" off at the Lance factory in Lancaster, CA in early November, thinking it would only take a few days to repair the damage done during the bone-rattling trip to Alaska and back, but was told that it would take 6 to 8 weeks (it turned out to be 3 months). While I was in Southern California  it snowed in Portal, the Chiricahuas and the San Simon Valley after Christmas -- a lot. 

This photo was taken by my friend Lori in Portal, showing Faranuf dusted in snow. As it turned out this was just the prelude to the big snowstorm, one of the biggest in years. 

The Storm Of January 2019. This is down in the San Simon Valley about 2 miles from Rodeo, New Mexico. Sky Island Grocery and Grill is a welcome eatery and grocery store for us, especially since the one in Rodeo closed. We now have 3 places to eat within a 20-mile radius. But this was a day to stay inside; it's a scene we don't see that often. This was taken by the Sky Island's owner, Jeff Gee. 

3 months and thousands of dollars later -- most of it thankfully paid by the insurance company -- I picked up Discovery and went to our usual late-winter hangout in SE Nevada near the town of Overton. It's adjacent to Valley of Fire State Park, one of my favorite areas for hiking and photography, though the entire area is visually stunning, especially if you like landscapes with very little or no signs of "development".  I've usually stayed at an RV park in town, but since Discovery is fully self-contained and has battery power re-charged by 2 solar panels I decided to boondock, i.e, go off-the-grid on a mesa south of Overton. I had spectacular views and privacy yet the town was only about 10 miles away if I needed gas, propane, groceries -- or a haircut. After the first few days of staying on the mesa for free -- and I would eventually stay for over 3 months -- I found myself wondering why I didn't do this long ago.

The boodocking mesa south of Overton. Discovery is the white dot on the lower right. The skies were dramatic with the winter being much colder and wetter than usual. 

The aftermath of one of the many storms that came through the area in February. 

By the middle of February the snow level had dropped to about 3000 feet; these are the Virgin Mountains. 

Then lower; Hurricane Cliffs in Arizona as seen from my boondock site using the 100-400 lens. 

On February 20 I went to the Lance dealership in Mesquite, about 40 miles from Overton, to get some work done on Discovery. By that time the snow level had nearly dropped all the way down to the desert floor. This is looking south from Interstate 15 to the Virgin Mountains. 

It snowed in Mesquite on the morning of the 21st. Palm trees dusted with snow? Residents said it hadn't snowed this much in over 40 years. 

After the work on Discovery was done I called up Valley of Fire State Park to see if it had snowed there, too. It had, another extremely rare event, so though I was staying at the RV park in Mesquite I raced back over there before it melted -- and this was all gone the next day. I'd waited years to see the Valley of Fire in snow. 

Looking south from Fire Canyon Road with the mountains of the Valley of Fire in the background. 

From Seven Sisters along the Valley of Fire Highway. 

This was near the end of February. By the middle of March the weather was warmer and the wildflowers started to come out, making for a colorful spring spectacle in the Desert Southwest that hadn't been seen in years. But that's for the next post...