Good Bad Trek

On the long dirt road between the southernmost and northernmost dirt roads

The Heelers and I did a good, long hike this morning, following the long dirt road to the northernmost east/west dirt road and heading east to Tortugas from there.  When we reached the intersection with the outer loop road we turned south and headed that way until coming to the intersection with the southernmost east/west dirt road, which we took back to the long dirt road--a lengthy loop in our section of the northern Chihuahuan Desert.

The bad part of the hike involved the idiot who was shooting nearby in the major east/west arroyo, popping off round after round of expensive ammunition.  The three women hikers we crossed paths with early on were duly concerned about the shooting and even commented to me about it.  The shooting persisted throughout our morning outing and even continued while we were heading back to the major arroyo.  It stopped before we crossed and didn't resume again while we started up the steady incline to our waiting CR-V.

You seriously have to question the mental stability of somebody shooting indiscriminately like that.  Target practice is one thing; firing repeatedly just for the thrill of squeezing off bullets is completely different.  A person doing the latter is probably not overly concerned about using a firearm safely.

Soaptree Yucca, Tortugas and the Organ Mountains

Chorus line of Soaptrees

Typical desert vista

This and the next:  Wooly Paperflower (Psilostrophe tagetina)

Wooly Paperflower is a member of the Aster family