Time for desert

I hope you did read it right. It’s time for desert and not dessert. Although I must admit desserts are far more tasty.

We are now far from Mt Rushmore, in the state of Utah – officially nicknamed as the Beehive state. In order to get there we had to cross the great natural barrier commonly know as the Rockies. Oh, what a change of landscape from the great plains. See for yourselves:

That’s the great plains:

And that’s the great mountains west of the plains:

Pretty cool (and snowy, even though it was only October).

So the Rocky Mountains form a natural obstacle for the air to flow freely from east to west (obviously they do the same thing for the air flowing from the west to the east…). That means that lands on opposite sides of the mountains can have significantly different weather patterns.

So as we head towards the south and west the vegetation will become more scarce and the landscape will be more barren:

Just remember: a desert doesn’t necessarily need to be all sand and no plants. Just like a dessert doesn’t necessarily need to have a cherry topping.

So that’s a desert:

And that’s a dessert (notice the lack of a cherry):

More desert now:

Of course, there are bits that fit the general definition (or perception) of a desert better:

And this is pretty common weather on this side of the Rockies – warm/hot:

These lands are parts of what was previously known as Wild West: a land of cowboys and outlaws, explorers and conquerors, today this period of American history is commonly seen as both romantic and violent. But it still is the land of the cowboys.