More rain in the Desert.

Rain in the desert is different from rain on the prairie where we live. Although one would think the sandy porous desert would soak up rain, it really doesn't seem to work that way. In no time water starts running everywhere. One thing you realize quickly in the desert is what a sudden rain can do.  Rain can start rocks falling, rain can make most country roads impassible.

One danger in the desert is rains that occur miles away. You can be in the sunshine miles away from a storm, but if you are in a canyon,  or a stream, water may suddenly rush upon you, and you have a real problem.

Yesterday as we drove back from Payson to Lake Roosevelt in a downpour you could see how each stream reacted differently.  One stream would be dry, and the next a quarter mile away would be a raging torrent.  If a stream stretched up towards the mountains and had already been saturated with snow melt it ran full.  If the stream was short with a small drainage it stayed dry. 

If mother nature sticks to the plan and warms things up the desert should bloom. Hopefully we will get to see some spectacular flowers.  On the other hand the rain probably woke up all the rattlesnakes.  This will make hiking a much more tense endeavor.  The Indians say that about a week or so after the lizards start to run about the rattlesnakes show up.  A rattlesnake that has not eaten for all winter may be in a bad mood.