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Sunday, May 18, 2014

In Soledad Canyon

Up the Barr Canyon Loop into Soledad Canyon
Dr. K, Becca and I got an early start this morning, driving for twenty minutes to the parking lot at Soledad Canyon.  When we headed in we were the only souls out there.  It was a beautiful day, though hot, and the flies made a general nuisance of themselves.  Nevertheless, we had a long aerobic hike that burned off quite a few calories.  Back at the parking lot there were four cars besides ours, though we ran into nobody during our trek.  When we got home I made my famous "Huevos revueltos con chorizo" (scrambled eggs with sausage) for a late brunch.  
Dr. K and Becca forge ahead while I take photos

Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus

Mesquite Tree flowers

The "plume" that gives Apache Plume its name

Apache Plume in Soledad Canyon

A monolith and its shadow

Hula skirt just waiting for a warm body to hop inside

It was a hot one this morning

Sotol lines the sides of the trail

Soaptree Yucca stalks (Sotol stalks upper right)

Striking for the canyon

Sotol and its crooked flower stalk

Closeup of the flower stalk

Apache Plume

Hole in the rock

Cholla flowers (at home)

"Blind" Prickly Pear Cactus flower (at home)

Large Cholla (at home)

3 comments:

Dr. K said...

The Apache Plume blossoms had a nice white-pink tint to them.

Scott said...

Some especially spectacular images today, Packrat. I really like "Apache Plume in Soledad Canyon."

If we come to visit once we move to Colorado (May 2018!), I want some of those huevos revueltos con chorizo; Kali says that she thinks I would live on sausage alone if I had the choice. :)

By the way, your last post about running into "Bear" reminded me that we had a young male black bear in the neighborhood last week. It was first seen in the back yard of some people who live about 3/4-mile from me, downstream and just outside of my preserve. Then it made its way into the county park that's downstream of my preserve--right on the border of Philadelphia. It eluded the Game Commission boys for several days, but they finally treed it and tranquilized it. Supposedly, it was moved to State Game Lands (where it can be shot during hunting season). In any case, if you realized how suburban our neighborhood is, you'd be astonished that a bear made its way here. Bears appear occasionally; most seem to come west from New Jersey and wander through the 'burbs at night until they're finally tracked down.

packrat said...

Thanks, Scott. When you come to visit I'll make a point of making those special scrambled eggs.:)

Interesting story about the black bear. It's a shame we've usurped so much of their habitat that we have to tranquilize them and ship them somewhere else. And, of course, as climate conditions worsen we'll see more critters coming into "our" habitat seeking vital resources.

:(

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