arid zone arizona

• Desolate Beauty

Hiking in these conditions requires a wide-brimmed hat, a generous smear of sunscreen and more water than you think you'll ever want to drink. Two litres is hardly excessive for a half-day hike, and it's important to sip even when you're not thirsty or sweaty, as evaporation occurs the instant moisture leaves your pores. You're more likely to navigate your own way around the preserve, visiting the charcoal-black lava flows in the northwestern corner or the higher, greener buttes in the east side of the park. Falcon's Hiking California's Desert Parks guidebook will lead you to unmarked routes, both in Mojave and the rest of the southeastern deserts. What you'll find: California's "low desert" -- a western extension of the very dry, low-lying Sonoran Desert more commonly associated with A...

... near the bottom of California's extremely arid Death Valley, five desert bighorn sheep are ginger... hot, dry lowlands look more like Arizona than California, given the predominance of fuzzy-l..., this national park straddles the transition zone between the low, dry Sonoran desert and the higher...

• Winnipeg Free Press
• August 18, 2009