Midweek Trek

View from the long dirt road

The Heelers and I got a fairly early start this morning, hitting the long dirt road at 8.  Hiked all the way up to the hills west of Tortugas Mountain before bushwhacking up and through that section of desert. I purposely kept the amount of bushwhacking to a minimum today because we'd done so much yesterday, and I'm beginning to get a little twitchy about rattlers.  As far as I know neither Frio nor Willow has encountered one before.

When we were two-thirds of the way back on the long dirt road we bumped into a man and woman hiking in the opposite direction.  They were very friendly to/and curious about the Heelers.  Then we humans chatted for a few minutes about hiking in the time of coronavirus, all of us in agreement that we're lucky to have such a wonderful resource nearby that lets us trek without running into too many other people.

Getting some bushwhacking in

Greening desert

Far from the beaten path

Bushwhacking companions

Barrel and Ocotillo

White Tackstem

B&W X

Similar scene in color

All reds are Claret Cups

Hiking east on the road west

Experiment

This and the next:  Ocotillo flower buds

Wide arroyo

Hawks

An arroyo runs through it

Red-tailed Hawk a quarter mile distant

This and the next:  Torrey Yucca blooming

I'm going to say, "Swainson's Hawk," adult light morph