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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Steamy Desert

Two guys bushwhacking up the north side of Tortugas Mountain
The Sunset Parking area was just about as full as I've ever seen it on a Thursday morning, so Becca and I headed over to the Monte Vista area on the east side of Tortugas.  Only a few vehicles were parked in the lot there.  As soon as we set off we heard the two climbers headed up the north side of the mountain.  I could only imagine how hot they felt exerting themselves that way.  Becca and I did a normal hike and we were both really overheating; that's because we got more rain overnight, and the atmosphere was thick with humidity.  When we ran into Jimmy on our way back to the car we all agreed that it felt pretty miserable out--and it was only nine o'clock.
Using my telephoto lens . . .

. . . to see them scrambling up the steep slope

View from the southeast of the mountain

Large Prickly Pears on a cactus

Plum-size "pears"

Volcanic boulders

Sotol blooming beneath the mine trail

Poppies on the mountain's east side

Much-needed break in the shade

Profusion of poppies

Horned Lizard

Same Horned Lizard (aka "horny toad")

Organ Mountains

Far east of the Tortoise

Acacia blooming again

3 comments:

Dr. K said...

I'm glad that you were able to get away from the crowds to a more secluded area of the mountain.

Scott said...

Packrat: Your accounts of misery in the middle of summer in the Chihuahua Desert make me think Kali and I made the right decision to move to 7,300 feet in arid Colorado. Of course, that is yet to be seen. In any case, we're enjoying surprising low humidity and normal temperatures here in the northern Piedmont (though normal [mid- to upper 80s] is still too warm for me).

packrat said...

Mid-summer at 7300 feet will still be hot, Scott; the advantage will come at night when it will cool probably into the mid- to high-50s. Here we're only getting down to 69/70 F at night.

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