East Side Start

A passel of photos from our long trek around Tortugas Mountain this morning.  Clouds and nearby rain made the light just right.  Perhaps the most interesting of the images is that of the Tarantula, a fairly-large male (I think).  Female Tarantulas can live up to 30 years in the wild.  Males not so long:  5 to 10 years, not much beyond the age of sexual maturity.  When having sex males have to deposit their sperm and run because the female views them as a possible high-protein meal.

Hand-sized (medium) Tarantula

Yellow and brown Ocotillo leaves

Virga on the western horizon

Didn't realize I'd photographed a jogger (bottom center)

It's raining to the west

Heading back to the Organ Mountains