Project Description
New Mexico, Texas, Arizona 2017
The Chihuahuan Desert in the Southwest US, in west Texas, New Mexico, and southeast Arizona, and central Mexico. This desert is North America’s largest desert and one of the most barren places in the Western Hemisphere, but certain genera of cacti flourish there. The Chihuahuan Desert is 175,000 square miles most of which lies in Mexico between two mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental (Figure 2). Moisture from either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean is blocked from entering this region because of these two Mountain ranges. The land is composed of limestone bedrock and the climate is harsh, with extreme arid temperatures and a regular, persistent wind that blows the soil to blur the horizon. A desert climate is made by a low and irregular annual precipitation level, and a fluctuating daily temperature. The moisture is not spread evenly throughout the year. It may not rain for months and then one summer day the sky will dump three inches of rain in an hour. Although the annual average rainfall in the desert is nine inches, with the wind and high temperatures, the yearly evaporation potential is over thirteen times that of the rainfall at 120 inches. The temperature variation, also, can change forty degrees over a day.
New Mexico, Texas Route
We Started our trip in New Mexico, where we spent 4 nights, from there we headed to the Big Bend National park and we ended in the state of Arizona for few more days
DAY 1| 24th of September 2017: Our flight from Tel Aviv was direct to La and from there to Albuquerque in New Mexico, we drove all the way to Belen, arriving late evening and went for a rest at the Holiday inn Bellen
DAY 2| 25th of September 2017: our first stop was Messa Garden, one of the bigest seeds nurseries in the world, where we had nice tour of the Nursery. from there we drove south to Socorro where we visited the Bosque del Aapache in order to view the magnificent birds, apparently we were very early in season and we did not see any birds at all, we slept at Socorro comfort inn
DAY 3| 26th of September 2017: from Socorro we drove through Caarrizozo to Alamogordo visiting on the way the beautiful valley of fires where we saw magnificent lava formations and some cacti among them.after arriving to the quality inn hotel in Alamogordo we went for a hike in the dog trail Canyon a home for lots of Cacti, we saw Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Ocotillo, Mammillaria lasiacantha, Opuntia engelmannii many agave and more. in the evening we had very good Mexican food
DAY 4| 27th of September 2017: In the morning we drove South to the area of Jarilla Mountains, it was raining and we spotted some nice plants, in the afternoon we headed back north to the white Sands area to try and Photograph the beauty of the place during Sunset, we did a Sunset hike tour in order to understand the formation of this incredible place
DAY 5| 28th of September 2017: From Alomogordo we drove along Rd 82 through beautiful scenery to Carlsbad where we visited the very disappointing leaving desert park. on the other hand in the area out side of the park among new homes we saw many nice cacti, mamilarias, agave, Echinocactus horizonthalonius and others. we went to Artesia to spend the night as the prices in Carlsbad where 3 time more expensive
DAY 6| 29th of September 2017: We drove from Artisia South on a very muddy 285 Road through many oil fields. arriving late afternoon in Alpine Texas
DAY 7| 30th of September 2017: From Alpine we drove south on Rd 118 through a very nice scenery until a point we received from friends where we first saw Ariocarpus Fissuratus in flower ( plenty of them) echinocactus Horizonthalonius,mamilarias, ferocactus and many others. late afternoon we arrived in the historical Terlingua Ghost town, we slept at the Big bend holiday hotel, amazing place and atmosphere.
DAY 8-9| 1st and 2nd of October 2017: The next 2 full days we spent at the Big bend NP, enjoying the Scenery, treks, Cacti and the people f the ghost town.in the hot spring crossing we looked for Ariocarpus , but unfortunately all plants on the hills where dead due to a fire that accrued in the place a year back. in the area of Dagger flat Rd, we saw many nice cacti, Coryphantha,Echinomastus, Echinocereus and the high light was a hill covered with lowering Ariocarpus Fissuratus. In the area before Lajitas oposite the visiting centre of the park we spotted many more plants of flowering Ario on the hills. In the Chisos mountains we spoted a black bear
DAY 10| 3rd of October 2017: This day was a long drive from The Big bend Np through El Passo and all the way to Daming in Arizona
Day 11| 4th of October 2017: Today we spent at the Chiricahua National Monument, a magnificent place wit plants, overviews, rocks and scenery. From there we headed to Tucson.
DAY 12| 5th of October 2017: We visited the Saguaro NP, where we have been few years ago. We saw a crested jiant Saguaro and a Crested Ferrocactus among other. in the Afternoon we went to Saguaro park west to see the outstanding Sunset through the giant plants.
DAY 13-14| 6th of October 2017: we started our way back home through a stop in LA for some culture, eating and shoping
Remarks:
1. It is the best time of year to see Aricarpus in Flower
2. It is to early for the birds watching in Bosquo
3. The Big Bend is a place worth visiting, and staying inTerlingua Ghost town is Fun and nice experience.
4. The white sands is an amazing place for photographers and nature lovers
