TRAVEL AWAITS: My 5 Favorite Springtime Experiences in the Arizona Desert

 

This article was first published in Travel Awaits on March 13, 2022.

When I experienced fall in the Northeast for the very first time, I fell madly in love. I couldn’t stop dreaming of living with those trees that paint the sky from palettes of gold, red, orange, and yellow. So the home I bought in Seattle was one that had such a special maple tree by the living room balcony.  But when winter came, all its beautiful leaves fell! That’s when, being originally from the tropics, I knew I could not stand the height of winter in such a place for long.

So when at the end of the eight-year fulltime RVing phase we looked for a place to settle, it had to be in the south. That’s how we discovered the Arizona desert, an environment usually described as barren, waterless, and without vegetation. Considered dull, uninteresting, even unlivable due to extreme heat or cold, people wonder why others would choose to live in a city like Phoenix or Tucson.  It’s simple really. We are people who can bear the desert heat in summer better than the winter cold up north. Happily, we have been rewarded with springtime experiences in the desert that rival fall experiences in the north.  

Relishing Simple Things at Home

Springtime is when temperatures are ideal at home. Weatherspark, my favorite forecaster of average temperatures anywhere in the world, says that from March 1 to May 31 highs around Phoenix are 75 to 90 and lows are 55 to 70. Because it is also not humid but dry, it is about as perfect a climate as can be for people like us. It’s that time of the year when we turn on neither the air conditioner nor heater. We simply open the windows to let fresh air in!

It’s fresh, chilly air that wakes you up to in the mornings, perfect with your hot coffee, chocolate or tea. A little later, it becomes the best time to putz around the garden, go around in a golf cart, and soak up bountiful Vitamin D. The nights are also great for cocktails on the patio, another little walk with the dog, or for going out in style and comfort.

Seeing Colors Burst Out Everywhere

When we first arrived in the Phoenix area, I thought I would only be seeing drab colors—until I saw the wildflowers painting the desert floor in the entire spectrum in spring! They carpet the valleys and hillsides quite colorfully. Several regional parks—Estrella, White Tank, and Cave Creek—and state parks—Lost Dutchman, and Picacho Peak—are some of those we visit during this time. The flowers come out more when winter has been especially wet and snow that has collected in mountain tops produces larger melts. Then a desert super bloom happens.

The wildflowers truly transform the desert floor but that is not what really delights me. At first, I hung on to the notion that I still preferred fall in the Northeast because the color swatches are so huge; they are splashed on the big trees! Well, imagine my delight when I witnessed the Arizona state tree, the desert trees called paloverdes— green sticks in Spanish, all parts of which from the leaves to the branches, limbs, and trunk are green— turn yellow in spring! Their little yellow blossoms sprout, bloom with abandon, and turn the crowns entirely yellow. Imagine the scene when there are miles of them together. You will appreciate my utter delight because I am an avid xanthophile!

There are two native Arizona Palo Verdes: Foothills and Blue. They bloom at separate times, so the golden blaze stays around for two months, from mid-March to mid-May. The Foothill paloverde has more yellowish bark and lighter yellow flowers. Blue paloverdes have twigs, young branches, and leaves that are bluish-green and flowers that are bordering on orange. Both are everywhere: in parking lots, freeway banks, private gardens, and public lands.

The first to bloom are the Blues, with the Foothills following about two to three weeks later. Their flowers are both five-petalled, with the banner petal standing out above the plane of the other four. In Blues, the banner petal is yellow, sometimes with orange spots. The Foothills’ banner petal is white. Once these flowers are pollinated, they produce edible beans.

Finally, the iconic Arizona desert cacti, the lovely saguaros that can grow to about 75 feet tall, also bloom in spring. Just go to the Saguaro National Park in May and you will see how beautiful it is when they all bloom at the same time! Imagine those green, thorny, and bulky trunks and arms transform themselves into delicate, flower-bearing trees of the desert. Truly quite a sight!

Enjoying Bodies of Water  

Some people react with disbelief when told that Arizona is blessed with 128 lakes and seven major rivers. So endowed, the desert beckons outdoor enthusiasts to swim, hike, raft, ski and fish especially during spring. The same snow melts that water the plants guarantee that these bodies of water come alive. In springtime, waterfalls gush, lakes fill, and rivers rise.

In fact, there are over 15 waterfalls in the state; many are in the Havasu region, in particular, the spectacular Havasu Falls. Close to where we live, the usually dry one on the Waterfall Drive of the White Tank Mountain Regional Park finally gushes after the rains in February and March.  

And because the lakes are full, we enjoy the two “steamboats” that ply the two gorgeous lakes all day—the Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake and the Desert Belle on Saguaro Lake— offering lunches, cocktails, and dinners on tour. The many beaches come alive around those lakes, especially the great  Lake Havasu where the UK’s London Bridge was reconstructed, Apache Lake which offers motel rooms from where you can just step into the beaches, and the wonderful playground that Lake Powell has become.  

There are seven major rivers in Arizona. The mighty Colorado River is one and Salt, Gila, Verde, Blue, Virgin, and Agua Fria are others. There is rafting, tubing and kayaking galore. My husband and I particularly enjoy photographing the wild horses of the Salt River Valley playing in the tributaries of the Gila River.

Going to Markets, Festivals, Ghost Towns, and Ball Fields

Daytimes are perfect so markets come alive at this time in the desert. There always seem to be a farmers’ market to go to, every single day of the week. It is delightful that tropical fruits like avocados, watermelons, and cantaloupes, citrus like oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and lime, and even vegetables like artichokes, palm hearts, and Brussel sprouts are dirt cheap. At this time of the year, I rarely source produce from the groceries.  

Festivals also abound, from arts and crafts to music, film, and wine and everything in between. Go to the Indian Fair + Market run by one of the best Native American art museums in the country, Heard Museum of Phoenix on March 5 and 6, the Nascar Weekend at the Phoenix Raceway on March 11-12, or the massive Maricopa County Fair on April 6-10. Open-air concerts and drive-in theaters are plentiful. Even ghost towns like Goldfield come alive with gunfight reenactments, stagecoach runs, and steam locomotive tours offered again.

Even sports teams choose springtime in the desert to train. Come to see your favorite ballplayers practice at the Cactus League Spring Training at ball fields around Phoenix—from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. Their athletes appreciate springtime in the desert even when not at practice.

Visiting National Parks and Monuments

And it is the best time to visit the Arizona national parks and monuments that the area is known for: Sedona, Grand Canyon, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Petrified Forest, etc. You’ll be pleased at how they are dotted with springtime flowers. And, in addition to the full blooming of the cacti at Saguaro National Park, the same thing happens at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument whose creamy blossoms open during the evenings in spring. In fact all cacti bloom in spring! 

Winter in the desert can be chilly, so we go farther south to Mexico. And the heat of summer, though no worse than the humid heat of the Midwest, motivates us to visit our children who all live in great summer places. Fall used to be my favorite season, hands down, until we came to the Phoenix area. It is such a paradise in spring. Besides, spring now means more to me than fall: it signals the beginning of life rather than the end of one.

So we make it a point to be home in April and May from all our travels. That is the time in the desert when it’s as if the sun has unloaded its energy, lending its rays to everything it’s touched, and the color yellow permeates the whole scene without the heat associated with the brightness of it all. I chose the right place to make our home. And it’s the time you should come and visit us!

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