Rain in the Desert

At the end of Tuesday's post, I mentioned that we moved to a remote campsite with a big slope of slickrock near it. Storms were on the way but Shyla and I got in a little bit of exploring before they hit.

We rode up a lonely canyon with red rock walls towering over us. Shyla loves running in this canyon. The ground is nice soft sand or dirt most of the way.

The canyon walls seemed artistically shaped, with peeks of the cloudy blue sky over us.

Shyla bowed down in thanks for the beauty.

We made it back to the Labmobile in time for a couple of big thunderstorms. We all relaxed inside while the storms pelted the world with hail and rain.

When we stepped out of the Labmobile after the storms, the world looked very different. The slickrock slope above our campsite had rivers of water flowing down it.

After we climbed a bit, we could see that the normally dry "wash" (like a dry sandy river bottom) was filled with water. I was a little worried at first because we'd have to cross that small river to depart the next day. But, the Runner was right - it was almost dry by then.

Flowers drank up the water where it had pooled on the slickrock.

And other flowers drank up water that flowed down cracks in the slickrock.

As the sun set, it gave the whole world a honey colored glow.

We had a break in the storms for dinner, and then the lightning show began.

At twilight, the sky is normally a bright blue but the clouds and lightning made it look almost purple.

It was definitely not a typical desert day but it was truly amazing to see the landscape transformed by intense rain. I bet that lots of plants are blooming now due to that rain!

Happy Friday!