Living in the desert is amazing. We moved here 11 years ago from rainy western Washington. So a few desert myths to deal with: The desert is neither flat no sandy. I am at 3,500 feet and look out my window at the Hualapai Mountains only ten miles away. They are 8,700 or so feet high. There are sand dunes in the desert, but not a lot.
Desert soil is mostly kitty little over very hard "dirt" often referred to as caliche. In other places, lots and lots of rock. We are definitely not in the flatlands.
Rain does soak in slowly, but when you get an inch in half an hour, it is not going to soak in anywhere. When it comes down hard in the hills and mountains is when you get flash floods. It might not rain at all where you are but a wall of water can still come down a wash because it rained hard in the mountains not far away. In 1997 eleven people died in Antelope Canyon died when a flash flood generated 15 miles away swept them away. Only the guide survived and the flood ripped off all of his clothes. And, flash floods do not have to be ten feet high to kill. A foot of water coming down a wash can and has killed the stupid and the inattentive.
The desert is loaded with wildlife. Quail are everywhere, as are rabbits. You might see rattlesnakes, big lizards, Gila Monsters, coyotes, foxes, burros, deer, bighorn sheep, antelope, wild horses, etc. Rattlesnakes are not everywhere and not usually found around people. We saw on last Saturday coiled in the middle of the dirt road we were on. We got out, took his picture, listened to how annoyed he was and then left him alone. I do not bother rattlesnakes in the wild, but it is the death penalty to be found around a house.
Death Valley gets very little rain, but it can rain hard in the mountains without any rain falling in the valley, or very little rain. That is where the floods come from. They move a LOT of dirt and rocks. Which is why the snow plows can keep working year round here in Kingman.
www.latimes.com
