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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Long Hump-Day Ramble

Torrey Yuccas
Becca and I wandered way around Tortugas Mountain this morning, and the only person we ran into was a guy hiking down by the trail's intersection with Geothermal Road.  Although it was 30 F when we started off the weather soon turned warm.  Less than halfway through the hike I was peeling off my anorak and my PolorPlus vest.  It was absolutely beautiful out there, and it's supposed to stay that way until the wind begins to kick up this coming weekend.
On the loop road southwest of the Tortoise

Prickly Pears, Creosote, Ocotillos, Strawberry Hedgehog and Yuccas

On the single-track behind the mountain

There's a dog way ahead of the pack here

Round, stone house (Organ Mountains in background)

Becca exploring a cave

Sotol

Yuccas and Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus in the foothills

The rugged Organ Mountains seen from southeast of Tortugas Mountain

Looks as if the university has already begun to dismantle its observatory

3 comments:

Scott said...

A dog-sized cave, just right for Becca.

Just to further confirm that you made the right decision to move to Las Cruces, Packrat, yesterday we awoke to 6" of fluffy snow (skiers would have loved the powder!) and a temperature of 5 degrees. But, by mid-afternoon it was near 30 and most of the snow had disappeared from paved surfaces. Today (Wednesday) is sunny and even a bit warmer. But, we're supposed to get snow showers this evening followed by the coldest two days of the season, then a wintry mix on Saturday morning.

Dr. K said...

Sometimes Becca can be too curious for her own good.

packrat said...

Your description of the cold, Scott, makes me crave a big bowl of hot soup. Hope the weather breaks soon for you. I actually saw an old-timer Soaptree Yucca in bloom on a neighboring street.

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