Day 1, Catalina State Park

Waking up in the desert, by Zoe Reichsman

I woke up this morning all alone in the tent, dazily wondering whether some House Of Wax tent abduction took place last night. Realizing my tent-mates were probably in the showers, I stumbled out of the tent, my blurry vision focused on the bathroom door. After the short walk to the bathroom, I began opening the door, realized it was labeled “Men” and opened the door opposite it to find my tent-mates.

I walked back to the tents to wake Sara Solanas up for a shower. Casually walking over to her tent, I glanced up and stopped. I looked around myself to see the rough rock mountains, cacti, brush and misshapen trees dimly lit by the morning light. It was absolutely gorgeous, and absolutely alien to me.

After breakfast, a short meeting, and a million pictures of our majestic surroundings, we all took off on a short walk through the Sonoran desert. Arizona feels like a different country for me, a different planet almost.

Last night, on the drive to the campsite from the airport, Arizona looked completely flat. The GPS showed one straight line for a large majority of the hour drive. Now, on the walk, the scenery is anything but flat. Jagged rocky cliffs loom in the seemingly not-that-far distance. The terrain dips and curves, covered in many different kinds of cacti (almost to the extent that Vermont is covered in trees), scraggly bushes, rocks, sand, and small streams very occasionally.

When I studied the desert for my biome in geology class back at Compass, the picture on my poster included a single cactus surrounded by sand for miles. The actual desert is much more diverse and intricate than I’d always pictured. It’s always been hard for me to imagine walking through the desert for three days in the dark trying to cross the border, but now it’s clearer to me how difficult that walk must be. Almost every single plant in the Sonoran desert is sharp. Dodging thorns in the dark, desperately searching for water in a parched desert is a situation I hope to never experience.