October is the beginning of the tourist season in the desert. It's too hot in the summer for visitors. It's has been deadly hot there. The plants are dry and the flowers that are left are turning a brittle brownish gold and rusty red. But they have survived.
It amazes me how the plants endure. Even in the most inhospitable areas they find a bit of soil to sink their roots into.
One single flower or maybe two.
A whole tree grows out of a huge rock, where nothing else grows.
But when the dead leaves fall onto the rock, they will form a tiny bit of soil that just might host another plant.
This lava flow, which hardened 1000 years ago and shows little sign of fertility, has a tree growing out of it.
And this cluster of plants has taken root in a lava bed. I guess these would be considered the early adapters.
