The Blooming Desert
*This is an excerpt from the Turtle’s Diary - April 13, 2019
Spring has arrived and that means it's time to get naked outside. This is the best time of year for being naked in the desert -- fall isn't bad but spring has a unique freshness in the air as the desert flowers come alive in the warm sun. I might be a week early but for the most part, the desert is generally in full bloom by the middle of April; which it is.
There was substantial rain this past winter (along with a couple of strange days of snow) which helped to boost the Mojave's yield for a heartier bloom this year. I heard last month that we would be in for a bumper crop of flowers so Daniel and I planned a day trip to go out exploring. Exploring we did as it actually turned into a two day adventure. Don't laugh, we took the wrong trail on our first day's attempt to locate a group of hot springs out by Lake Mead. We had planned on spending the day hiking at a place near the Hoover Dam called Gold Strike Canyon Hot Springs. We had never been there before but we knew it was a popular place among the valley's hikers and it shouldn't be too hard to find. It wasn't hard to find and it was definitely crowded. I might add that it was crowed with a textiled population. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case since school is still in session. We were not so lucky -- I think a lot of kids skipped school that day. Therefore, naked time on the trail was somewhat limited.
I mentioned above that our day trip ended up being two days and that's because our first day's attempt to find the springs failed. We had found the location alright; we successfully found a parking spot; and, immediately started following a group of people up a trail where we thought we were all going. The people were faster than us but thinking that they knew where they were going, we followed them. Up until they disappeared from our view and we started thinking to ourselves as we kept walking uphill how highly unlikely it was that there would be a hot springs located at the top of a mountain. Duh. So we turned around too tired to complete our goal and headed on home.
Thus came our second day's trip. Gold Strike Canyon Hot Springs is located not far from Lake Mead. Getting there does include a rather long hike but it's an absolutely gorgeous trail despite being a bit treacherous in some spots. The canyon walls have a light dusting of lavender from some type of purple statice but mostly are filled with large batches of yellow daises accompanied with splashes of bright red-orange flowers stemming from some other unknown desert shrub. Even the new desert sage was beautiful displaying it's bright silver green leaves tucked against the hallowed out dark volcanic rock that surround the sides of the trail.
The trail wanders down through the mountain's gully and eventually leads to the Colorado River just past the base of the Hoover Dam. As mentioned above, the trail can be treacherous in some spots and we both took a little tumble -- nothing serious but it is worth noting that one should wear a decent pair of shoes with some traction while climbing over fallen boulders in a ravine.
We continued hiking downward for about 3 hours. We knew it would be the same coming out (and be all uphill) but we were determined to make it to the end. It didn't happen. Not because we gave up but because we were smart enough to give in.
When I said the trail was treacherous in some spots, I wasn't kidding. We got to a spot where there was a 30 foot drop and a single knotted rope. Not a ladder; just a rope to pulley oneself up or down the edge of a cliff. We realized that we had met our match.
Even if we had been successful getting down the side of the ledge, there's no way we would've been able to hoist ourselves back up. We are both disabled; I have bad knees and my Daniel has MS. Daniel would not have the upper body strength for such a challenge climbing back up.
We both stood at the edge looking down with disappointment. A nice woman offered to hold the rope for us but I don't think she fully comprehended what she was offering. Anyway, we didn't go through with it. We thanked her and turned around to head out figuring the world is full of hot springs with much easier trails to get to.
Even though we were not able to get to the end, it was a beautiful day that included an exhilarating hike through the desert complete with the most gorgeous of wildflowers. Just what mother nature had intended for me.
Of course I drove home naked. With the windows down and the stereo cranked up.
Enjoy your naked day my friends!
*The Turtle’s Diary is a collection of thoughts, insights and stories based on a turtle’s true life experiences – gained by the misguided trust in others.
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