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Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Before Odile

Rained on from the start (check out the trail marker)
It started raining as soon as Becca and I stepped out of the car this morning, but it stopped shortly afterwards.  I left my sunglasses on the dashboard never thinking I'd need them on this particular hike; but the sun came out brightly for forty or forty-five minutes.  Then it began to cloud up again.  We're under a weather alert because of Tropical Storm Odile, which is predicted to drop as much as 9 inches of rain in parts of Arizona and New Mexico.  If the forecast is accurate there will be massive flooding in sections of the desert Southwest.
Adult (left) and adolescent Cactus Wrens

Curve-billed Thrasher

In Tortugas's high foothills

Dark clouds over the Organ Mountains

Yellow Chinchweed flowers blooming again

Huge mounds of Strawberry Pitaya Cactus

Rock "hueco" (Spanish for "hollow") provides water for wildlife

Looping around Tortugas Mountain

The trail behind the mountain

Lots of moisture in the air

Clouds rolling in over the Organs

Far west of the Tortoise

Incoming hawk

Coooper's Hawk

A very wet arroyo

Shades of yellow

Tortugas's flank and the Organ Mountains

An arroyo of yellow Chinchweed flowers

3 comments:

Scott said...

Packrat: Aren't those temporary water holes also called "tinajas" (or something along that line). The word translates to "tank," I believe.

You and Becca are braver than Kali and/or me. With the sky looking like it did in your images, I wouldn't have ventured out onto the mountain. Becca would just have to do her business in the yard.

packrat said...

Yes, they're also called "tinajas," Scott, which means "small pool in a rocky hollow," though the word also translates as "large clay pot or jar."

If you really want to be confused there's a beautiful state park/historic site east of El Paso called Hueco Tanks.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/hueco-tanks

Dr. K said...

Beautiful markings on the underside of that hawk.

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