(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Yuma Desert [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-21 Yuma, Arizona, sits on the Colorado River in the western central part of the Sonoran Desert and, along with SE California and Death Valley, it is one of the hottest and driest areas in the United States. With a less than 3 inch average rainfall and an over 120 F temperature record, it is in many ways the most like the coming state of the borderlands under Global Climate Change. I grew up in Yuma and even in my early twenties the Colorado River was mostly gone after Morelos Dam. Between the All American Canal and the water siphoned off at the dam, the river was a series of puddles and short streams that were crossed easily from both Baja California Norte and Sonora. South of Somerton, near where we lived in the mid to late 1950s, the Gran Desierto stretched out to beyond the Mexican Border and to the east traveling down the Fortuna Mine Road lays the Camino del Diablo, starting with Tinajas Altas. When rain did come to the Yuma Desert, it often brought on a bloom of desert flowers that covered the desert floor. Occasionally it brought flooding, as it did one winter when water filled the depression in front of our one-room shack on Magnolia Avenue. My father usually took my mother and me out in the desert on Sundays and that was one thing that led to my love of natural history. It always gave me a chance to escape them for a while when I could, as I did in the Muggins Mountains, east of Telegraph Pass and near Palm Canyon, among others. Clothos Temple, Muggins Mountains in 2014. Muggins Mountains, 1965. Clothos Temple in center. Different angle. The dry desert around Yuma holds quite a few mysteries and I could always find something of interest. It was here that I discovered my first jumping spider, a recently molted Phidippus apacheanus male, inside its molting sac. I found various rocks and minerals. Discovered unusual plants associated with the dry deserts, like Evening Primrose, Desert Lily, Sand Verbena, Parasitic Broomrape, Sacred Datura, various cacti and of course the ubiquitous Creosote Bush. Diamondback Rattlesnakes, Sidewinders, Sand Lizards, Bull Snakes, Desert Iguanas, Banded Geckos, and Zebra-tailed Lizards filled out the reptiles. There were also Ground Squirrels, Coyotes, Jack Rabbits, and several species of bats. Numerous birds as well were found in parts of the deserts, especially Mourning Doves, Roadrunners, and many others. Of course the insects and scorpions fascinated me. Vegetation near Telegraph Pass, Yuma County, Arizona, 1965. Desert Lily near Yuma, Arizona. Wildflowers just east of Telegraph Pass, Yuma County, Arizona. Phidippus apacheanus male from New Mexico, the spider that started me on a life-long interest. During my tiger beetle collecting days in the 1960s I often biked to Yuma Territorial Prison to chase the beetles along the Colorado River below the prison cemetery. The temperature could often be 100 degrees F, but the beetles seemed pretty active. The prison, the source for the Yuma High School sports teams named “The Criminals,” was a grim presence above my hunting grounds. The grim dust storm ridden and summer heat bedeviled dry country around Yuma may well be the future for much of the Southwest. The Yuma desert blooms once in a while, but is mostly brown except for the ever present and drought adapted creosote bush and a few others. Southeast of Somerton, the Gran Desierto in the 1950-60s consisted of sand covered by creosote and bursage as far as the eye can see. A possible vision of the future for all of the borderlands. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/21/2247281/-The-Yuma-Desert?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/