Hot Trek

Heelers at start

Dr. K, the Heelers and I drove to the east side of the mountain and did a moderately long hike starting from the Monte Vista area.  Just as we started off from the CR-V our pal Jimmy pulled up in his Tacoma, stepped out and spent a few minutes palavering from a safe social distance.  He and his family are all doing well.  He was headed to the west side of the mountain for a morning trek.

We hiked down to the outer loop road, struck west for about 1.5 miles, turned around and trekked back east through the wide arroyo toward the Organ Mountains.  We only saw one woman hiking with a Beagle when we were out west, but as we swept back around Tortugas Mountain we began bumping into hikers taking advantage of a very warm morning.  Even though people passed fairly close as they went by, the Heelers were well behaved--no barking, no whining.

The way we just came

White-winged Dove on a Torrey Yucca

Yucca experiment

This and the next 2:  Claret Cup Cactus (aka "Scarlet Hedgehog")

Velvety Nerisyrenia

A male Gambel's Quail signaling caution

Lush section of the desert

Desert Sumac

This and the next 2:  ?

A little large to be a hummingbird nest

The Heelers and Dr. K

This and the next:  why it's called Spectaclepod

The wide arroyo we've been hiking through

Desert bouquet

Heelers at end