Exploring the desert by moonlight, urban powwow in Montana, mucking for garnets

Sunset, July, 1994 by Roseann Hanson, Sally Stich, Caroline Patterson, Genevieve Rowles, David Lansing, Ben Davidson

It's a common question when you live in the desert year-round: how do you cope with the heat in summer? Longtime human desert dwellers take a cue from some of our wild neighbors--tarantula spiders prowling for their dinner, nighthawks singing their melancholy songs, bats seeking the nectar of night-blooming plants--and wait until dark.

After sunset, temperatures plunge to a comfortable 70[degree] to 75[degree]. If you've never ventured out into the desert at night, get acquainted with this strange world through one of the many natural history programs offered in Phoenix and Tucson. Try the ones listed below, but also call zoos, botanical gardens, or even horseback tour companies. Those listed require advance registration; the area code is 602.

In Phoenix, try Desert Moonlight Tours at Desert Botanical Garden. Explore the garden grounds with docents on 2-hour programs offered July 19 and 25 and August 16 and 22. Admission costs $5, $4 for seniors, and $1 for ages 5 through 12. Call 941-1225.

In Tucson, try Nightstalkers at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Visit close up with owls, insects, bats, and rain-pool animals on the museum grounds from sunset to 9:30 July 30 and August 6 and 13. Admission costs $12 for members, $20 nonmembers; museum visitors must be at least 8 years old. Call 883-1380.

In the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson, black lights attract strange and beautiful desert insects on the Jewels of the Night tour, July 23 only. Cost of $63 includes transportation and dinner. Call Baja's Frontier Tours at 887-2340 or (800) 726-7231.

If you want to explore on your own, pick a night near a full moon (July 22 or August 21). The best places to go have wide trails or roads that are closed to traffic at night, so you can concentrate on the surrounding desert rather than your feet. In Tucson, try Sabino Canyon (749-8700) or Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Monument (296-8576), and in Phoenix, try Phoenix Mountain Park (495-0222).

Walk slowly and quietly, keeping a lookout for the glow of bobcat or coyote eyes on the road ahead, and watch for snakes and tarantulas at your feet.

DENVER

Top arts festival fills the streets

Artist Denny Dent jumps and turns on the stage he shares with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, splashing color on a 4 1/2- by 6-foot canvas while Beethoven's Fifth Symphony blares. It is midday, and the temperature is hovering at a sweltering 92[degree]. Still, thousands are crowded around the stage to watch this artist have an "art attack." Nine minutes later, a completed portrait of Beethoven emerges, and the crowd erupts into applause.

Dent is one of the most popular draws at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, an outdoor juried show held over the Fourth of July weekend and considered one of the top three in the country. Last year's festival, only the third one, attracted more than 250,000 visitors. Museum-quality art and crafts by 200 artists (selected out of 2,215 applicants) line four blocks in Cherry Creek North, one of Denver's loveliest neighborhoods, with outdoor cafes, boutiques, and plenty of shady trees. Best of all, every artist is present at his or her display, so if you want to know the genesis of an idea or how a certain finish was accomplished, just ask.

Accessibility is the key word here--even down to the prices. For as little as $50, you can take home a perfume decanter or a beautiful pair of handcrafted earrings. (For an additional $35,000, you can take home a sculpture by Wisconsin artist Marc Sijan.)

Seven stages provide everything from opera to a culinary arts demonstration. You can listen to the Queen City Jazz Band at the Coors Beer Garden while eating smoked turkey quesadillas, or sip a cool lemonade while watching ice sculpting at the Chefs de Cuisine stage. If the kids get antsy, take them to Creation Station (at Second Avenue and Detroit Street) to make a cardboard sculpture or paint a watercolor.

At 4:30 each afternoon, Dent gives his fourth and last performance of the day. Who's it going to be this time? Elvis's "Jailhouse Rock" fills the air, and the King is soon brought to life. Another art attack--more thunderous applause. Dent has done it again.

The Cherry Creek Arts Festival is on Second and Third avenues between Clayton and St. Paul streets, from 10 to 7 on July 2, 3, and 4. Admission is free. Booklets with a festival schedule, list of participating artists, and map are available at all street entrances to the festival. For parking or shuttle information or more about the festival, call (303) 355-2787.

MISSOULA, MONTANA

Western tribes host urban powwow

Ten minutes from downtown Missoula, dancers slowly enter a grassy arena encircled by a tarp-covered lodgepole shelter. They are young and old, male and female, dressed in eagle feather headdresses, yarn-fringed leggings, and beaded buckskin dresses, stepping to the high wail of singers and the ever-present heartbeat of drums. This is the grand entry, the opening event of the annual Fort Missoula First Nations Pow Wow, held in the 1877 fort that was once used to protect Missoulians from the Salish tribe.