Desert Storm

Things have been a little different here in the High Desert lately.  It's been raining...almost every day for the past week or two.  Not for very long, mind you, but out here it doesn't really take much rain to cause havoc on the roadways as the water washes across the sun-baked, dehydrated landscape.

Roads are constantly being washed out, flash flood warnings are occurring on a daily basis, and thanks to the remnants of a tropical cyclone off the Pacific coast, temps have actually been fairly comfortable (note:  comfortable here is anytime you can manage to keep it under triple digits in August, and we've even had a few top out in the 80s...crazy!).

What the rain is good for, aside from a nice change of pace with the weather, is great pictures.  The storms in the desert move in fast, hit hard, and then seem to disappear into nowhere.  I specifically remember this past Saturday, when I was running one of my favorite trail loops in Joshua Tree National Park (Lost Horse Mine Loop, you can see more here), and it was a beautiful morning with barely a cloud in the sky.  One minute I'm floating along a descent to one of the mine sites in sunshine, and when I climb back up the trail, a cool breeze hits, and the sky turns black.  I managed to finish my run and get back to the car right before it unleashed.

I don't mind running in the rain, in fact, I rather enjoy it.  What I'm not a fan of, however, is trying to drive my low-to-the-ground, front-wheel drive car down a dirt road in the desert during a flash flood; fortunately I made it to pavement in time.

I've managed to snap a few pics of storms as they've rolled through the past few days, so enjoy the pics!