Desert Locations

Treat your skin and soak up the sun

Desert climates may be hot and dry, but if you've got psoriasis, that may be just what the doctor ordered. An abundance of sunshine, which provides extra doses of natural and precious ultraviolet light B (UVB), seems to help clear up lesions and keep psoriasis at bay. In fact, as many as 80% of people with psoriasis use sunlight as a natural therapy.

If you're ready to pack your bags and give it a try, here are some desert climate locations, in the U.S. and abroad, where you can get away.

• The Great Western Desert in Australia
• Monument Valley, Navajo Nation Tribal Park, Arizona
• The Thar Desert in India
• Baja California, Mexico
• The Sonoran Desert in Palm Springs, California

Known to the world as the Outback, this desert takes you away and can help you forget about psoriasis. Stretching out over what appears to be a limitless landscape, the Great Western is actually made up of three separate deserts: the Gibson, the Great Sandy, and the Great Victoria. Together they offer something for everyone—red sandstone mountains with blue, cloudless skies; the culture of native people (aborigines); fascinating wildlife (kangaroos); and soft twilights.

The West MacDonnell Range, in this part of Australia, is home to rustic Finke Gorge National Park, with its famous Palm Valley. The palms are living fossils, survivors from a jungle world that thrived millions of years ago. There is also Serpentine Gorge, with its breathtaking views, and Ormiston Gorge and Pond, which offers the rare opportunity to swim while surrounded by sheer red cliffs. We can't think of a more dramatic way to enjoy something new and take advantage of the sun and climate.

For more information about the Great Western Desert in Australia, visit
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/
parks.html#regional_map.

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Monument Valley is a 29,817-acre, open-air museum of Navajo culture and stunning geological sculpture. Its dramatic and colorful red buttes, mesas, and spires have starred in some of Hollywood's best-known westerns. Whether you explore it by 4-wheel-drive vehicle, on horseback, or on foot (permit required), the area's red sands, purple sage, and blue skies will enchant you, as its golden sunlight may help soothe your skin.

A word about climate. Because of its mile-high elevation, average summer high temperatures in this desert barely break 90 degrees. But from November through March, it can be freezing and snowy.

For more information about Monument Valley, Navajo Nation Tribal Park, visit http://DesertUSA.com/monvalley/du_muv_desc.html.

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Some people think if you've seen one desert, you've seen them all. But think again. Especially if you've never seen the Thar Desert, which is also known as the Great Indian Desert. While it has its share of sand, with legendary dunes, the Thar also has three things that set it apart: plants, wildlife, and the famed ancient city of Jaisalmer.

In Thar, you'll see a surprising number of bushes and trees along the line of the horizon. The neem trees look like green mushrooms against the sky. Along with this vegetation, you'll find teeming wildlife. Unlike the animals of most deserts, a surprising number of Thar species live right out on the desert plain—goats, gazelle, black buck, foxes, camels, cows, and dogs. The park is also a bird lover's paradise, with a winged population that includes hawks, doves, grouse, shrikes, and a rare crane known as the Indian bustard.

For more information on the Thar Desert, visit http://rajasthan.indiantravelportal.com/sand-dunes/thar-desert.html.

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Home to some of the world's most stunning deserts, Baja's long, skinny spit of land divides the Pacific from the Gulf of California (the Sea of Cortez). It stretches south of the
U.S. border for 800 miles. Baja begins just a trolley ride away from San Diego. For the desert seeker, there are two major options in the north and central parts of the peninsula. There's the Vizcaino in the west, moistened by damp air from the Pacific. And there's the dry San Felipe on the Gulf side, with an average rainfall of less than 2 inches a year.

There are dozens of reasons to visit Baja: sport fishing, shopping, and sunbathing on white sand beaches, just to name a few. But what makes Baja unique is its wild places. You'll find prehistoric rock paintings in the Sierra de Guadelupe mountains—a UNESCO World Heritage Site; extraordinary wildlife—from migratory birds to the gray whales that breed in a desert lagoon; and fabulous flora—almost one quarter of Baja's plants are not found anywhere else in the world.

For more information on Baja, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/
terrestrial/na/na1301.html.

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Not all vacationers like their deserts rustic and au naturel. Some prefer creature comforts, man-made beauty, and, of course, cable TV. If you're into a lavish lifestyle, you'll love Palm Springs. It's everything you could ask for in desert luxury: lavish hotels, spas (to pamper both you and your skin), golf, resorts, country clubs, award-winning restaurants, and posh shopping. There are also museums, concerts, dance and drama at the Annenberg Theater, and an 8,000-foot rotating mountain tramway.

Perhaps the nicest thing about Palm Springs is the native, natural beauty, just a short drive away. Joshua Tree National Park, with over 800,000 acres of great hiking and rock climbing, is located where the Sonoran and Mojave deserts meet. The park is home to two different ecosystems. In the lower, drier portion (below 3,000 feet), you'll find plants of the hotter Sonoran Desert. These include natural gardens of creosote bush, ocotillo, and cholla cactus. In the higher, moister Mojave portion of the park, there are forests of Joshua trees and unusual geologic formations. Considerable wildlife also thrives in parts of the park where water is naturally present.

For more information about Palm Springs and the Sonoran Desert, visit http://www.desertusa.com/Cities/ca/palmsprings.html and http://www.desertusa.com/du_sonoran.html.

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