What the Fudge?

Approaching the north side of Tortugas Mountain

I don't know what was going on at the Sunset Area west of Tortugas Mountain, but it was more crowded than I've ever seen it before so early on a Thursday morning; there were literally no parking spaces.  The lot was completely full and vehicles were lined up along both sides of the entrance road.  So Becca and I headed to the Monte Vista side of the mountain where there were no cars parked.  We saw not one person during a long trek, and when we returned to the trailhead there were only two vehicles parked nearby, and we never saw their occupants.  I'm really curious about what kind of event was happening on the west side especially because it was nearly as crowded as we passed by headed home.

The northeast slope

Torrey Yuccas growing in the high foothills

Something of interest near the center of this photo

It's a Scaled Quail standing on one leg

Scaled Quail

House-size boulders

Humungous outcroppings

The lone Sotol

Hiking behind the mountain

Just about to bend around to the south side

A few Ocotillos growing here

Interesting cloud cover

Running ahead of the pack

About 8 miles east of the Organ Mountains

Ocotillos at the side of the trail

Further behind the mountain

Line of Ocotillos and the Organ Mountains

Heading back

On the far outer loop road behind Tortugas

Very green section of desert near a major arroyo

Yuccas trudging up the mountain