Ab-Fab Morning

Well-traveled path

The weather couldn't have been any better this morning, an early January day in the northern Chihuahuan Desert.  Before I was halfway through my trek I had removed both layers of outerwear and wore only a long-sleeve Craghopper shirt; I don't have to say that I also was wearing trousers, socks, boots and a hat, do I?

I bushwhacked out into the area where I spotted the small herd of Javelina yesterday, but the only signs of them were their hoof prints and the trenches where they'd been digging for tubers.

When I had nearly reached the final leg of my hike I encountered my good friend Jimmy who was just heading up the road to the mountaintop.  He and I chatted for a good long while, but not nearly as long as we had palavered yesterday.  We parted company after exchanging a reasonable amount of gab.

Mark of Zorro.  Actually a switchback up the mountain

Trail on the west side of Tortugas Mountain

Whatever

Across the Mesilla Valley

This and the next:  two views of Tortugas and the Organs

Yucca elata (aka "Soaptree Yucca")

Good spot for a nest

Yuccas along an arroyo

Tortugas and the Organs again

Soaptree Yuccas far west of the mountains

Organic bot

Healthy Prickly Pear Cactus

Soaptree

Soaptree with a Torrey Yucca directly behind

Large arroyo that flows out of Tortugas Mountain