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In the 1980's and 90's a close friend, colleague, and joint venture business partner and I used to go camping in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. We always had a great time.
I grew up spending lots of time in the Eagle Rock Reservation in New Jersey. I am used to nature. I love camping out under the stars. To being in tune with what surrounds us in its pristine undeveloped form gives me inner peace.
One of the things my friend and I would do is research the daylights out of where we would camp. Find out how those whose home was this land lived. To know how they survived.
My friend and I would to there with only a knife, matches, and half a day supply of food and water. We knew what we needed to survive. The closest thing to city life we brought were blankets. More on that in just a moment.
There is all the water you need for hydration, hygiene, and cooking in the Sonoran Desert. It is a desert because of low annual rainfall. That does not mean there is not potable water for the taking. Some Cacti have roots going down very deep. The spiny material filters the water. If you cut off the top of the plant, the spongy material inside is replete with cool to cold filtered water. Its like a wet sponge. Just squeeze it and you will have all the water you need. Fresh as a daisy. This is what I did in the Negev desert too.
There are abundant safe food sources in the desert. It is not what you think of as food in drive through city franchise restaurants. But it is what the Native Americans who lived there for thousands of years ate.
The trick on plant life (my staple) is to be able to tell the poisonous plants from the safe ones. At various stages of their growth, some are safe, and the same are not. It depends on where they are in the growth cycle. Until they reproduce, generally they are not safe. That is a mechanism of defense to preserve their species. Some are never safe to consume.
Snakes and packs of mountain lions tend to hunt at night. It is too hot for their belly's and paws during the daytime desert sun. A lot of the desert is former ocean bottom, if you go back far enough in time. The orange color of the rocks stems from the rusting out of their metal and other mineral content. During the day, they absorb the hot sun. At night, they reflect the stored heat. At the Valley of Fire in Nevada, looking down at the Valley from the highest point, the night time rocks look like radiating embers in a fireplace. That is the reflection of the heat. This is where the blankets come it.
If you put down five blankets over a bed of smooth rocks, they act like an electric blanket. the rocks radiate heat, and keep you warm in the cold crisp desert night air. They also keep you safe from prides of hunting lions and groups of snakes in search of their dinner. They stay away from hot rock areas. Interesting, this Native American method is one I used in the Sinai and Negev deserts in Israel. It is a tradition, half away around the world. In both cases, people have been living in harmony with nature for thousands of years.
The thing my friend and I love about the desert is this. 24/7, in the heart of the desert, if you are still and listen carefully, you can hear nothing.
Its a great vacation for your nervous system to get away from city noise, over crowding, and other sensory over stimulation.
As time permits, I would like to write an article about camping in my native North Eastern USA. It is a very different experience camping out at Eagle Rock Reservation than it is in either the Judean, Negev, Sinai, Sonoran or Mojave deserts.
Enoch.
