Most visitors to the Chihuahua Desert will enjoy their journey problem free, whether the region serves as your final destination or just an avenue to further travels. Still, just in case, if you find yourself broken down on the side of the road with absolutely no, much less a clear wireless internet service signal or cell phone service signal in the vicinity, it’s best not to panic.If you are stuck in a visible roadside area, do not leave your vehicle unattended Your vehicle will not only provide some shelter from the elements (particularly if heating and cooling is still working), staying put will ultimately reward you for your patience. It may seem as if traffic is sparse at times but a passerby is more likely to stop for assistance in the event a car is present as opposed to just a street-sidling wanderer. If for no other reason, you are more likely to be seen standing next to a sizeable automobile than on foot. It will also provide additional security for any personal possessions or valuable items inside your car which you are unable to take with you.If you do opt to leave your car, whether for safety concerns or as means of seeking help, at least leave a note This will help any emergency help to locate you if need be, not to mention help alleviate the fears of any parties you may be traveling with. With no contact to the surrounding world at this point, aside from your physical person, it’s important to do everything in your power to leave a trail, however, leaving a trail of food or trash items you might have on hand for your trip could help to attract unwanted animal visitors. Keep Reading →
Chihuahuan Desert Research Projects
The Chihuahuan Desert is an area that has been preserved allowing researchers to study the geologic history and life that has managed to survive naturally in the region. The region is massive and is larger than the state of California. It encompasses parts of northern Mexico, New Mexico and the southern area of Texas.
The Chihuahuan Desert is included in the biosphere program, which was created in the late 1960s. Concerned scientists from all over the world decided to protect certain habitats in their natural Keep Reading →
The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center
The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center was established in 1978 by the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, a nonprofit organization. It is located at the foot of the Davis Mountains, near Fort Davis, TX. The center’s purpose is to educate their visitors about the diversity of the Chihuahuan Desert and allow them to experience nature in its serenity.
The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center offers educational opportunities for both children and adults throughout the year. It boasts a twenty acre botanical gardens that showcases 165 species of trees and plants native to the area. The garden is arranged into four different groups: Keep Reading →
What’s the Desert Like at Night?
We’ve all at least seen a movie or a picture of a desert that has given us a great idea of what a desert looks like, but not all of us have actually experienced a desert. The desert can be a dangerous place, but it is a truly stunning place as well. With the right know-how and proper equipment and clothing, one could spend a night or two in the desert.
One well known characteristic of a desert Keep Reading →
Chihuahuan Desert Heats Up the Big Screen
Of the many lines the recent Hollywood blockbuster Due Date left etched in the minds of audiences, granted some against one’s will, perhaps none was more perfectly delivered than the dialogue that ensued as Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifinakis’ Los Angeles-bound car slowed to a roll in traffic-”This looks like a border crossing, it says Mexico”-”I thought it said Texaco, we’re low on gas.”Set against the backdrop of the Chihuahuan Desert, this was only one of many scenes filmed in the area, taking advantage of one of the most desolate locales in the United States to provide a scenic and appropriate setting to convey the sense of desperation and lengths an expecting new father will travel in order to be present for the birth of his child. Shutting down a stretch of highway 70, in the Las Cruces, New Mexico, region, filmmakers took advantage not only of a unique natural blessing but of tax cuts for filming in the state of New Mexico, designed to bring more business in from would-be Hollywood sets. As a result, the Chihuahuan Desert has raised its profile by association, an increasingly popular locale for any movie calling for heat-stricken or sandy stage (of which there are many). Keep Reading →
Roswell, NM: A Town of Unknown Population
Settled in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert’s northwestern region lies a sleepy town turned military base with one of the most unique pop culture profiles of any community its size. Roswell, New Mexico is known the world over not because of the particular achievements of any of its 45,000 known residents, but rather a few speculated residents who may or may not have crash landed one night in 1947, only to be swept under the rug and denied by United States government’s controlling interests. Actually the closest population cluster to the reported crash site was Corona, New Mexico, though the Roswell Army Air Field handled the local investigation of the debris, thus forever linking the town of Roswell with the mysterious occurrence. The Roswell UFO Incident is a subject of distrust and rampant speculation by citizens towards the deceitful intentions and questionable transparency of the federal government. Though such a lack of faith may have been out of character in 1947, when the UFOs allegedly touched down, by the time books on the subject first appeared on shelves in 1980, Vietnam, Watergate, and a host of other issues had already disillusioned many Americans with regards to the top to bottom trustworthiness of government controlled entities. Keep Reading →
Chihuahua Desert’s Animal Friends
While we as humans might struggle to survive the intense desert conditions for long without the proper supplies and outside nourishment, many of earth’s creatures feel right at home in the Chihuahuan Desert‘s heat-heavy, water-deprived climate. Playing home to even some larger animals, perhaps the deserts most iconic dweller is the bighorn sheep, easily distinguished by its, you guessed it, big horns. The bighorn sheep population is very fickle, easily changing depending on the overall health and well-being of the desert itself. Thankfully, the Chihuahuan Desert’s relatively large population of bighorn sheep speaks to the desert’s continued favorable conditions and good fortune. Feasting on the juicy insides of cacti, found in particular abundance at lower elevations, the large sheep use their hooves and horns to rid the cacti of its prickly thorns, then enjoy the fruits of their labor. The pronghorn antelopes also find a naturally bountiful selection of food in the desert. With a diet consisting mostly of herbaceous flowering plants (i.e. clover, sunflower, milkweed), shrubs and grasses, pronghorns find plenty of nourishment even in the seemingly sparse offerings afforded by climates like the Chihuahuan Desert. Keep Reading →
Albuquerque’s Desert Climate Leaves it Far From Deserted
While deserts are generally thought to be sparsely populated regions in which even vegetation can scarcely afford to make a home, Albuquerque, New Mexico proves that a vibrant city can indeed succeed amid largely arid surroundings. The largest city in the state of New Mexico, Albuquerque boasts a population of over half a million. Though smaller than the Chihuahuan Desert’s largest collection of people (that title belongs to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico), Albuquerque enjoys the size of a major city without the widespread violence and major corruption issues that plague its more sizeable contemporary to the southeast. The city of Albuquerque is still growing as well, with almost half of New Mexico’s residents already calling Albuquerque home. Keep Reading →
Danger Guillermo Robinson: Ciudad Juarez
Juarez, or Ciudad Juarez as it’s referred to locally, is the largest metropolitan area in the Chihuahuan Desert region. As a border town, Juarez has played a unique roll both in the cultural development of Mexico and that of the United States, forging a nature of interdependence both for prosperity and its dark underbelly. Formerly known “El Paso del Norte,” the name describes exactly the role Juarez played in the two nation’s history, loosely meaning “the way to the North (America).” Just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, the highly traffic bridges stretching from the Lone Star State to Mexico are crossed close to 23 million times per year. While the close proximity to the United States has helped to develop Juarez economically, for example, maquiladoras, or major factories employing predominantly female workers, provide hundreds of thousands of jobs to the city, relying on the ease of transportation from just across the border and the lower Mexican working wages, in recent years Juarez’s economic dependence has turned violent. Keep Reading →
About the Chihuahuan Desert
Spanning close to 140,000 square miles (larger by some interpretations), the Chihuahuan Desert is the second largest desert in North America behind only the Great Basin Desert, starting at its northernmost point in Arizona and continuing downward, well into Mexico. Sitting between 3,500 and 5,000 feet of elevation at most points in its terrain, the desert descends to as low as 1,000 feet in certain areas, causing slight variation in temperatures depending on where in the massive arid region. Behause of its higher altitudes, it is noted as a “high-elevation” desert. Generally, the Chihuahuan Desert features cool winters to offset devastatingly hot summers, though no season makes up for the prevailing lack of rain. Summers are rainiest, though it’s all relative when talking about so little precipitation. Rainfall in the Chihuahuan Desert is atypical of that of most deserts, which commonly experience their rainy season in the winter, as 90 of the desert’s rain falls between July and October by means of afternoon thunderstorms. Throughout the course of the average calendar year, the Chihuahuan Desert receives less than 10 inches of rainfall. Keep Reading →
