From Nasty to Brutal

Winds were strong when we started off this morning

The wind was bad this morning when Becca and I started our hike west of Tortugas Mountain, but it would soon get much worse.  By the midpoint of our trek we were inhaling and eating dirt, squinting against blowing dust.  Then, when we were about a mile away from our car at the trailhead conditions really deteriorated.  Dark clouds rolled in.  The wind grew fierce.  The air turned cold.  At first we were sandblasted, then the sand was replaced by frigid, driving rain.  Even though it only lasted for ten minutes we both got quite wet.  We were still wet when we got home, and that was after a stop at PetSmart to buy eats for desert dog.

Scouting the trail ahead

Obviously the work of a drill bit

Far along the single-track

Becca amid the grasses

Castor and Pollux

One of the tallest Soaptree Yuccas I've ever seen

Ladderback Woodpecker

Ladderback

Same woodpecker, lousy shot

How big is that Soaptree yucca?

Becca and the yucca

Swift-moving clouds

Moon and clouds

La luna y las nubes

Rapidly-moving clouds partially obscure the moon

Rocks

Blowing dust covers the Organ Mountains (right)

Pencil Cholla

Don't fence me in

Frequently-photographed arroyo

There are dust-obscured mountains on the horizon

Thick branches of an old Ocotillo

Conditions are worsening

Where I buried the fox

Last blue sky we'll see for a while

Angry clouds vented their wrath on us

A little over a mile from the car