Summer Redux

Getting an early start

The light windbreaker came off quickly on this morning's hike.  We're heading for a high of 78 Fahrenheit today, and it felt pretty warm in the northern Chihuahuan Desert already. When we first started out we had an encounter with two young women (they looked like high school girls) who were out for an early-morning jog.  They got a big kick out of how Becca was lying down just off the trail, as if she were waiting for sheep.  I told the girls, "She's a herder."  The first girl said, "She is so cute."  I hope Becca won't let that kind of comment go to her head.

Not quite out of the shadow yet

The center Prickly Pear pad is as big as a dinner plate

Heading back behind the mountain

Spiny enough for you?

Shadows on Tortugas Mountain

The effect of wind on a jet contrail

Tortugas (Tortoise) Mountain (left) and the Organ Mountains