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Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Change of Venue

Geothermal Road
Because of the construction at the corner of Dripping Springs Road and Sonoma Ranch I decided to park Whitey the CR-V at the end of Geothermal Road and trek along the dirt track east; it was slow going, though, because it's far sandier and less compacted than before due to little rain and the barrier that prohibits vehicle passage.  I made it to the first dirt crossroad and followed it south to one of the roads/trails that heads east/west on the ridge line.

I bypassed that road, however, and crossed to the next one furthest south, then trekked east on that road up to the foothills of Tortugas Mountain.  Although I got some good exercise it wasn't a pleasant hike because of a cold wind that made the 47F temperature feel more like the high 30s.  One bright spot on the journey, though, was running into two friends, Barry and Renee, who were hiking with their German Shepherd, Kaiser.  I got to pet Kaiser for the first time, and he's just such a great canine.  I told them I was glad to get my "dog fix" for the day.

Although I got a few decent photos this morning, it simply felt too cold to keep stopping to capture images of this section of the desert even though it looked magnificent in early morning sunshine.
Looking southwest from a dirt road off Geothermal

The desert between here and Tortugas

The "A" beneath the observatory stands for "Aggies"

Chorus line of Torrey Yuccas

Looking north on the road I've been following south

Trident

A view of Tortugas and the Organ Mountains from the west

1 comment:

Dr. K said...

I like the photo you captioned "Trident." It shows the many trails that are used in this area of the desert.

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