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Saturday, January 15, 2022

Away From the Beaten Path

Last night's moon
Willow, Frio and I did the exploration I outlined yesterday:  down LDR-A arroyo, across to Right Branch Arroyo, and then up Middle Branch into its higher reaches.

Some of the hiking involved passing through some gnarly stretches that--at one point--saw the human hiker stooping over as far as he could to pass under the thorny branches of a low mesquite.

The effort was worth it, though, as we discovered an area populated by larger Barrel Cacti; amazingly, a lot of the barrels were leaning quite dramatically.

Exiting a particularly narrow section of Middle Arroyo required us to climb a steep hill to our east, and from there we were able to bushwhack across a treacherous stretch of ridge, and then descend a steeper hill into Left Branch Arroyo.  From there we followed our normal route back to the CR-V.

This & next 2:  exploring Middle Arroyo



This & next:  leaning 4' Barrel Cactus


2 1/2-foot Barrel

Another leaning Barrel, this one about 3'

This Barrel has leaned so far it's nearly prone

This & next 4:  hot air balloons





This & next 2:  we descended a steep hill into Left Branch



Artsy (computer enhanced) balloon shot

Last 2:  Frio and Willow in Right Branch Arroyo


 

1 comment:

Dr. K said...

Nice photos of the balloons--the first ones of the year. And that's a gorgeous photo of last night's moon.

Vote Day

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