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Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Arroyo Exploration

Fork in the single-track
I ended up going far further than planned this morning, and it was due to the fact that I didn't want to bump into the same couple twice; we had already talked for a long while, during which I told them about Becca's fate, and they expressed deep sorrow at her passing.  They have a German Shepherd who isn't doing well physically, and we talked about him, too; we've all encountered each other often in the desert west of Tortugas Mountain.  My original intent was to take the narrow trail that crosses between two dirt roads and then head back toward the mountain on the far one; but realizing they'd be heading in my direction again I decided to bushwhack down to a major arroyo Becca and I explored quite often in the past.  Needless to say it made me very sad to be there without her.

When I finally made it around to the upper foothills trail I ran into a man, Renee, hiking with his dog, whose name sounds something like "Rye-O."  Since we'd often bump into these two in the past he asked about Becca, and when I told him she was no more, he said, "That's very sad."  He asked if I would get another dog, and I told him I wasn't sure.  I noticed for the first time that he had a slight accent, and when I asked him about it he told me he was from the Netherlands originally.  We talked for a short while before parting ways.

When I got back to Whitey the CR-V I saw Jimmy's truck, but I didn't see Jimmy.  I recalled how adept Becca was at spotting Jimmy's truck, and how happy she'd be to bump into him. 
Upper end of the "New Trail"

Lower end of the "New Trail"

This and the next 4:  exploring an arroyo Becca loved





Large Torrey Yucca, Tortugas (left) and the Organ Mountains

Far west of Tortugas

This and the next:  same flycatcher (a Say's Phoebe, I believe)


A huge Ocotillo

Outer loop road

Ocotillos against Tortugas

Two ravens in flight

1 comment:

Dr. K said...

It's nice to see that most of the ocotillos are still greened out. That won't be true for very long, though.

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