On the Osha

Becca in our driveway

Dr. K, Becca and I got an early start this morning as we drove up the mountain to the Osha Trail just down the road from the village of Cloudcroft.  It was a beautiful morning for hiking in the high country, almost in the mid-60s.  We did nearly a two-hour trek and ran into only two people:  a mountain biker and a woman hiker; we saw her twice as she was making the loop either heading back to the village or over to a nearby campground.  Went into the village after our hike, dumped a bag of garbage and hit the Family Dollar store where we bought eight gallons of purified water, a mop and a sponge refill for it, a dozen eggs and a package of Oreo cookies.

Mountain living

Looks like a Woods' Rose

Fairly steep ascent on the first leg

White Sands from the Osha Trail

Woods' Rose (Rosa woodsii)

Woods' Rose and pollinator

B&W #?

Need a closeup to ID

Spotted Towhee

New addition to the trail:  topo maps

Lots of green in the Sacramento Mountains

Mas verde

Piu verde

Don't crap on me

I'm guessing female Bullock's Oriole

Will Trump find a use for all the gypsum at White Sands National Monument?

Becca loves hiking in the mountains

Bowing in obeisance

Roses and friends

Nabbed

Bark Beetle scrimshaw

Small Horned Lizard

Headed for a meadow

No need to say more

I'm going with Meadow Hawksbeard

Helianthus

Yet another Woods' Rose

Wandbloom Penstemon (Penstemon virgatus)

Where we are now

Carried away with cairn making

Becca way ahead of the pack

Aspen, pines, moon

Closer look