Las Cruces and the Robledo Mountains |
Getting in a long hike at last |
Pointing toward the Organ Mountains (where are they?) |
The Organ Mountains looking like a distant mesa |
Local color |
On the road again |
Rarely will you see an entire Ocotillo blooming this late in the season |
Ocotillo flowers |
Hummingbird conductor |
Clouds crowding the desert floor |
A very plump Devil's Head engorged on recent rainwater |
A different perspective of the flowering Ocotillo |
On the horizon the Potrillo Mountains |
Finger cholla (pronounced choy-ya) |
This hill is covered in Chinchweed flowers |
The Organ Mountains are out there somewhere |
The outer loop road heading back to Tortugas Mountain |
The way we just came |
The color will fade soon |
Looking iffy over the Tortoise |
Southern section of the Organs |
This is how much the clouds have changed since we started off |
3 comments:
It seems to me you've gotten decent rain this year between the monsoon and the tropical storm remnants. Do you have any idea how the precipitation stacks up compared to other years?
You're certainly correct that the clouds make for dramatic images of the desert.
Birds around here in the northern Piedmont will occasionally seek shelter under buildings and overhangs if we've had very, very long periods of heavy rain, but I notice them more often hunkering down under the eves during winter snowstorms.
I can hardly remember ocotillo blooming this late in the season. Shows you what rain will bring.
Scott:
According to local meteorologists we're about .67" below where we were last year, but that's precipitation measured at the local airports; as people always say, though, "who lives at the airport?" We average about 8 to 9 inches per year. High Rolls/Mountain Park averages about 12 inches per year, but we've already had over 14" since we put up our new rain gauge on March 8, 2014.
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