Just Another Near Side Trek

Sky at start

Becca and I got a very early start on our hike west of Tortugas Mountain this morning; again we were trying to beat the heat.  We did a good job of that by hiking in the mountain's shadow for about 1/4th of the trek before breaking into the sun.  It didn't really begin to feel slightly hot until we'd nearly finished up.

The parking lot was surprisingly filled both when we arrived and when we left, though we only encountered one mountain biker on our outbound leg.  We did see a man and woman trekking along the foothills trail with their two dogs who kept running too far ahead of them, and the man kept whistling them back.  We had bushwhacked over to Becca's favorite sandy spot in the shade, so it wasn't clear whether the canines had seen her or not.  I extended our hike a bit, and the extra mileage seemed to sit pretty well with The Beckster who still had a lot of energy when we got back to Whitey the CR-V.

Not long until we broke into the sun

We're not going that way

Having trouble IDing this plant

A little closer look at the flower

Looking west

Becca on break

Just west of the mountain road

Spectaclepod and buggy-eyed visitor

Ocotillos

Dirt road further west of the mountain

Ocotillos on the slope

Tortugas (left) and the Organ Mountains

Soaptree Yucca fruit

Good shot of the sandy desert

Ocotillos all over the mountain