What's With the Crowd?

Pinacate Beetle

When Becca and I arrived at the Sunset Area at 7:00 this morning the parking lot was, perhaps, half full, and there were only two other cars parked at the side of the road where we usually leave our car.  After a long, cool hike we returned to find the parking lot packed with vehicles and a line of cars along both sides of the road where we parked.  The pickup truck behind us was so close I almost didn't have enough room to get Becca into the rear compartment.  When we returned home I asked Dr. K if she'd heard anything about an event this weekend in Las Cruces because there simply was no other way to account for the large number of people out on Tortugas Mountain this morning.

Higher ground

A definite promise of rain

In the upper foothills

Along the upper foothills trail

Hot-air ballooning over Las Cruces, New Mexico

Closeup of the balloon

Another look at the hot-air balloon

Virga is rain that evaporates before reaching the ground

Tortugas and the Organs

Becca scoping out the territory

That long road west

Fairly heavy cloud cover

Above the Mesilla Valley now

Not an idle promise; we've already had a lot of the wet stuff by noon

Is that posse still after us, Butch?

A very cloudy Chihuahuan Desert

Wonder what ear height to face length ratio is--two to one?

At the yucca leaf market

Mind your own business

Selecting the right leaf

Munching on said leaf

Mesquite tree, Soaptree Yuccas and Ocotillos on the bank of a small arroyo

Hard to believe it was already starting to clear up

Is it really clearing?

Our car (red dot) amidst a late-arriving crowd

Stingleaf (Loasaceae family)