Desert Packrat

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Another Sunday in OMDPNM

Reaching the first plateau

Dr. K, Becca and I made an early morning trip to Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument on this the first day of Mountain Standard Time, having turned all our clocks back one hour late last night. These are the days I wish we were still living in Arizona where they don't turn clocks forward or back according to an inane tradition that saves neither daylight nor energy. But I digress. We had an enjoyable hike of several hours in the national monument running into only a few other outdoor enthusiasts during our trek. The weather was warm, with slightly elevated humidity. We're headed for a high of 80F today. Don't get me started on climate change.

Hiking through the high desert grassland

Organ Mountains mostly in shadow

Old Man's Beard

Fishhook Barrel Cactus clones

Break in the shade

Helicopter, plane, balloon or photobombed by a bird? (The latter, I think)

Blanket of clouds on the Organs

Don't know what this ground cover is

Ocotillo in the grassland

Leaves turning red

Sunlight and shadow in the Organ Mountains

Stingleaf (Cevallia sinuata)

Almost to Black Mountain

Oasis beside Black Mountain

Desert oasis, OMDPNM

Dr. K and Becca exploring an arroyo

Looking back down the arroyo

Dr. K

Becca and me

Stand of Desert Willows

Huge mass of Apache Plume

Western Soapberry (Sapindus saponaria) beside Black Mountain

Western Soapberry

Reluctant to head back, but head back we must

Is this the Chihuahuan Desert or Hawaii?

Rugged Organ Mountains

Broader look at the mountains

Sign at the western entrance to the monument

Saturday, November 4, 2017

War Games

Sky at start

Early this morning Becca and I wandered right into the middle of an R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) training exercise. We had already spotted their canopy tent in the outback, but it was Becca who tipped me off to the presence of camouflaged cadets. One--a young woman--approached us to say there were cadets practicing with rifles (unloaded) in the direction we were headed. We avoided them, though, by taking the Crosscut Trail to the south. Later, near the end of our hike, we spotted four other cadets near the road leading to the mountaintop. They were standing around, waiting, no doubt, for the morning exercise to come to an end.

Desert west of Tortugas

The mountain's western slope

Until I picked this up I didn't realize it was a fabric flower

Mostly cloud much of the way

Cloud over the Organ Mountains

Remnant

Our first sighting of the canopy tent

South to Bishop Cap

Distant Organs

Becca's quite disturbed by something she sees

Soaptree Yucca and the mountains

What Becca saw: an R.O.T.C. cadet checking GPS or his iPhone

Further west of the mountains

Colorful Ocotillo wands

Becca is ever vigilant

Our second sighting of the tent, which blends into the desert terrain

Looking north

Field of Ocotillos

Looking through one

Leaves turning red

Bishop Cap

Heading back to the mountain

R.O.T.C. cadets hurrying up and waiting

One last look at the sky over Bishop Cap

Friday, November 3, 2017

Friday Walkabout

Desert layers

Becca and I took a pleasant hike in the desert west of Tortugas Mountain early this morning, and the weather was perfect for a walkabout. We had a few encounters with desert denizens--birds, cottontails, jackrabbits--but all too fleeting to capture any images. I was going to say "all too fleet-of-foot," but I realized it wouldn't really apply to the birds we saw. We did bump into another guy hiking with a dog; his three-year-old hound was eager to play with Becca, but we kept them separated. The man said he had another dog at home that looked a lot like Becca. In fact, he had four dogs in total--all rescued while wandering in the desert. I almost always immediately like human beings who love animals.