Dynamic Desert Day

Doña Ana Mountains

What a strangely dynamic morning in the desert today.  When Becca and I set off it seemed as if the day would be sunny and bright.  But there were heavy clouds over the Organ Mountains so we climbed out of the Sunset Area parking lot to the saddle on the high trail around Tortugas Mountain for some photographs.  Shortly thereafter the wind picked up and began blowing clouds around, making for some of the weirdest configurations I've ever seen.  The sun kept making sporadic appearances and for a while it looked as if it would turn out sunny after all.  But by the final leg of our trek heavy, dark clouds were rolling in from the northeast, the temperature dropped by about ten degrees, and it seemed like rain was a distinct possibility.  Becca and I ran into JC and Olivia when we were headed back to the car, and I took a long-range photo of them using the Canon's telephoto lens.  I post the photo here so that JC's brother can see that Olivia and JC are doing fine, and that they're getting in the requisite amount of exercise. :)

Climbing to the saddle on Tortugas Mountain

Amazing clouds over the Organ Mountains

On the upper trail around Tortugas

Beginning of an A-bomb cloud over the Organ Mountains

Wind pushing clouds around the Organs

Torrey Yuccas on Tortugas's north slope

Cactus Wren in a yucca

Spiky sentinels

Could be a White-crowned Sparro

About as high as we're going to climb today

Picacho Peak and the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum (bottom right)

I've never seen such a weird combination of clouds

You can see thicker clouds through the hazy ones

Respite

Long telephoto shot of a guy running with his dog

Clouds coming and going

Tortugas (left) and the Organ Mountains under a partial blanket of clouds

A little closer look at those intersections

Observatory atop Tortugas

Clouds kept getting weirder and weirder

For a while it looked like rain

Olivia and JC