A typical stereotype of the desert is a dry, sandy, desolate place with little vegetation. Childhood memories of the southern California desert are filled with flat plains scattered with Joshua trees and Cresotebush and little else.

But Baja California's Sonoran Desert is considered the most botanically diverse of North America's four deserts, and the farther south one goes, the more diverse is the vegetation.

Knowing this, I was very motivated to travel south as soon as possible after we arrived in  Mulege to see what the state of affairs was in the Sierra la Giganta around the town of Loreto (about 2 hours away). 

In mid November, the entire southern peninsula was treated to lots of rainfall over about a week. Flooding occurred in the far south around Los Cabos and La Paz, but those of us in the northern part of the state saw mostly light rain that had the chance to soak in.

Within days, the Fouquieria burragei in the scrub near our place, which had shown absolutely no signs of leaves were already covered with leaf buds.  Another 3 days and there were fully formed leaves.

[photos of buds and of leaves]