Spring-Like Day

I hope my cousin in Chicago doesn't read this post, but we're supposed to be 70 degrees today here in the City of the Crosses. It felt like spring when Research Associate Becca, Dr. K and I were on the trail around Tortugas this morning.

Some morons on the far side of the arroyo decided to have fun setting off fireworks and a flare at 9:10 am.

This little squiggly cloud was one of a few in the sky.

Becca relaxing in the shade of a yucca.

Bare ocotillos whose leaves will begin to appear in a few months.

Foggy Start II

The light broke through the clouds to catch Tortugas just right.

If you enlarge the photo and look carefully you'll see the new observatory (left) and the old (right).

From the droppings in front of this barrel cactus it's easy to surmise who ate the innards--Brer Rabbit.

Becca's ride waits in the Monte Vista parking lot.

Heavy cloud cover lingered throughout the hike.

Foggy Start

This morning was a bit foggy when we started out for Tortugas's east side, but it quickly cleared up. There was quite a bit of cloud cover, though.

Cloudy or sunny, it's all the same to Becca.

Her attitude is: anything goes, no matter the weather.

Some idiot decided it was OK to dump all of his old bathroom tile alongside this dirt road in the desert.

Is that a tortoise in the distance or Tortugas Mountain?

Humid Winter Day II

Packrat and Becca on the trail around Tortugas.

Sinuous rolling hills along the trail.

One of the larger arroyos that runs out of Tortugas.

A jogger runs the trail around the mountain.

The intrepid desert explorer.

Humid Winter Day

It was 47 degrees with a 5 mph wind when we set off this morning, but the humidity was 97%, so it actually felt rather warm on the trail. It rained the past few days, but the cloud cover was light.

The clouds were swirled by the winds aloft.

This fire engine--with its siren wailing--was on its way to Talavera along Dripping Springs Road.

The Franklin Mountains near El Paso are obscured by clouds in this photo.

Who chopped that cloud off at the far left?

Delightful Light II

You are here: standing at the spot where the trail bends around the base of the mountain, looking west.

Standing in the same spot, looking east.

Some careless jerk drove an off-road vehicle tire over this cactus; it's more important to have fun than to care for the environment.

The way back.

Delightful Light

Due to a storm system tracking into New Mexico from Arizona, the light was dynamic in the Chihuahuan Desert this morning. Here's a look at the ramada on the Monte Vista side of Tortugas Mountain.

Heavy clouds rolling in over Tortugas.

The front of the system just reaching the Organ Mountains.

Swirling cloud fingers promise rain to the parched desert.

In the middle distance, the trail around Tortugas.