"Ouch! These Plants Hurt!" Encounters with desert plants and animals Tip by Kaspian

Coming from the wilds of Canada, I'm used to bushwacking. "Bushwacking," means just pushing your way through plants and trees and making your own trail where there wasn't one before. Well, you can't do that sort of thing here because the flora bites back! And it hurts! Every single plant seems to have its own spiky defenses--cactus, aloe, and trees are all covered with thorns.
Out of habit, I brushed a harmless looking leaf out of the way and was rewarded with a giant scratch down my arm which bled for a half-hour. It was a painful act that I was to repeat several times over the coming days no matter how much I tried to remind myself of the danger. It's probably not a good idea to cut your own path through these plants anyway because the creatures lurking under them (rattlers and scorpions) are far more dangerous that what you may be used to.
Bring some Polysporin (antibiotic cream) and Band-Aids (plasters), because you'll probably get attacked by at least one deadly greenery during a desert romp.