Another Windy One

This and the next:  Tree Cholla flowers

Becca and I got an early start in order to beat the wind, which was slated to pick up at about 10 and continue all the way until 9 p.m.; we're under a Red Flag Warning.  Other people must have had the same idea about the wind because the Sunset Area parking lot was about half full.  The only hikers we ran into, though, were Rosie and her mother; Rosie is a beagle whose name I know, yet I never learned the name of her human mom.

Becca and I did a little bushwhacking into the sandy area of desert west of the mountain before following one of the many dirt roads southwest just short of a major arroyo.  That was our turnaround point this morning, and both The Beckster and I were satisfied with the length of our trek.  Best of all we were home before the heavy wind got started.

The "desert" west of Tortugas Mountain

Not "birds of a feather"

White-winged Doves

Soaptrees

Some kind of flax or Rough Menodora?

Relaxation time

Where Becca is relaxing

This and the next 4:  Cactus Wren on a Soaptree Yucca

Rough Menodora?

Just west of Tortugas

Long shadow

This and the next 2:  Variegated Fritillary

This and the next:  road to the mountaintop

This and the next 2:  Stingleaf flowers

Becca showing how tall that Soaptree Yucca is

A type of Curcurbita

This and the next:  Soaptree Yuccas

Mountain road

This and the next 2:  Soaptree Yuccas

This and the next:  Ocotillo getting its leaves

This and the next:  Climbing Milkweed

This and the next:  Black-throated Sparrow