Departing from Monte Vista

Heading behind Tortugas Mountain

Becca and I did a very long hike around Tortugas Mountain this morning starting from the Monte Vista parking area.  It was a beautiful cool morning requiring a long-sleeve shirt, but not trousers.  (I mean I wore hiking shorts on the trek.)  There were other people out and about taking advantage of the weather.  We stepped off the trail to allow a man jogging up behind us to pass, and on our way back we got off the trail to let an elderly man and woman jog past us in the opposite direction.  When we were nearly at the parking area a rather stunning young woman ran past us, continued beyond our car and went out onto Dripping Springs Road heading west.  We saw her again when we were driving back.  It seems as if she had run all the way from the university area, jogged around the mountain, and was running several miles back the way she had come.  No wonder she was in such great shape.

Early sunlight paints the desert yellowish-green

The trail drops steeply from here

Becca is always eager to forge ahead

I have to give her the "wait" command often

The trail strikes right through this rugged area

Desert Cottontail on a ridge near the rock shelter

Familiar view from the outer loop road

Three views of a Loggerhead Shrike (notice the sharp beak)

It wears the mask of Zorro

Loggerhead Shrikes are skillful hunters

Far west of the Tortoise

Pinacate Beetle (aka "stink beetle") on the move

Moon and mountain

House-sized boulder and Moon