Monday Blah

Purplish Prickly Pear pears

I didn't feel much like taking a hike this morning, and Becca didn't seem especially in the mood, either.  It was 75F when we started out, the sun blazed down to bake the desert floor, and there was little breeze to speak of.  Nevertheless, we trekked along our normal route, bushwhacked over to Becca's shady spot in the sand, and stayed there quite a while.  She was in no hurry to leave, and neither was I.

I didn't take many photos out there today, but I got a couple good ones of an obliging Mockingbird.  On the way back to the trailhead I was grousing to Becca about the number of hikers out on a Monday morning when we ran smack into our pal Jimmy--well, not literally, but you already surmised that.

As hot as Becca felt she still manged to trot over to greet her favorite hiking buddy, and he rewarded her for the effort, petting her and scratching her ears.  While we talked several different outdoor enthusiasts in groups of twos passed us, and there were young people playing music over in the ramada--thankfully, not too loudly.  Jimmy and I commented on the larger number of people who are taking advantage of the Tortugas Mountain Trails system in recent years.  Both he and I have been trekking in the area (him longer than me) for decades, and we recall a time when nobody was hiking here.  Because it was so hot we decided not to chat too long, and a short while later we went our separate ways, he to the mountaintop, and we to Whitey the CR-V.

Just a few feet from the purple pears these Prickly Pear fruit are deep red

Some kind of shield bug, I suppose

This and the next:  Fishhook Barrel Cactus flowers

#2

More Prickly Pear fruit

Long way across the desert

Looking this way . . .

. . . and that

Recipe for Mockingbird Split:  2 ripe yucca fruits and 1 Mockingbird

Same Mockingbird on different Soaptree Yucca stalk

There's that desert scene again