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Friday, December 30, 2016

The Edge of Wetness

Getting started on the "old standby"
Since we were heading down into the lower desert this morning we decided to hike our old standby again, the Grand View Trail.  The weather was cloudy and cold, and it seemed during the entire trek that we could get rained on.  Both going and coming Becca stopped near an overlook to let us know there were animals nearby, but we couldn't spot any.  On the final leg, however, Dr. K spotted the white butt of an elk cow, and we had the good fortune of seeing several, though at quite a distance.  Deciding that we wanted to get closer to the ruminants we did some bushwhacking into a very rugged area, but gave up the quest when we encountered boulders blocking our way.  By the time we reached the midpoint ramada it began to drizzle, though it was such a fine mist we didn't really get wet.  It was a great hike in the Sacramento Mountains before our return to Las Cruces.
Weather played a significant part in our trek today

Becca moseying up the Grand View Trail

I'm still not convinced this is a Robin

Love the vistas at this elevation

Becca scouting for critters

Dynamic weather over White Sands

Cloud cover over the Tularosa Basin

Another view of White Sands

Juniper country

Becca was first to signal there were animals nearby

It was Dr. K, though, who spotted the butt at left

A closer look at elk cow butt

Hello

Looks like a Siamese elk, but . . .

. . . there are really two elk cows there

We decided here to bushwhack through rugged country to see elk

Not easy going through territory like this

We found an elk/deer trail littered with scat

We made it ten yards or so beyond this point

We turned around here because it got too rocky to proceed

White Sands in rain

1 comment:

Dr. K said...

There was so much elk and deer scat where we were bushwhacking on the Grand View trail. I think we were invading their territory.

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