Windy, Not Breezy

Cottontail bedded down in our backyard

The morning-show meteorologist said that the weather would be breezy with occasional gusts today.  Well, about midway through our hike the breeze became downright windy (see video below).  Despite the annoying wind Becca and I had a good trek.  We ran into JC at the trailhead and talked with him for a few minutes.

Becca hears trucks climbing the mountain road

Becca spots a mountain biker

Hauling wooden pallets up Tortugas Mountain for the December pilgrimage

Skywatchers

To the right of the observatory is the Tortugas Pueblo altar

The peak called Picacho, which is Spanish for "peak" (4959 feet)

Tortugas and the Organs from the west

Closing in on the mountains

Yuccas against the sky

Closer still

Cars in the Sunset Parking lot

The Jackrabbit, the Bush and Becca

What kind of construction would make a cloud like this?

As we were hiking along this morning Becca got right up to the bush (pictured beside her in image #3) when a large Jackrabbit sprang out and ran away at top speed.  She was so shocked she just stood and stared for twenty seconds before heading in the direction of the hare's departure route (image #4).  I got a good laugh out of the scene, and only wished I had been quick enough to get a picture of the critter in flight.

This type of construction cloud I can understand

Surprised by a hare (not pictured)

Hare today, gone a second later

Becca was very interested in this critter den

We're headed the way the camera is pointing

Always been intrigued by the reflected light (center right)

Weather Swing

Cactus Wren in a Yucca

Unlike yesterday--which felt like the first day of spring--today felt like the first day of fall.  It was cool, overcast with the promise of rain.  And our car did get sprinkled upon on the way back home.  Bumped into Jimmy at the base of the mountain.  We talked briefly.  He was headed for the top of Tortugas, and I wished him a dry journey.  I'm pretty sure he got spit on a bit, though.

Same Cactus Wren

Heading up

Unlike this one most mountain bikers are environmentally conscientious

Long dirt road that ends up between the mountains

Quite a trek to the Organs

A more-than-willing trekker

Almost across the Crosscut Trail

A little bushwhacking never hurt anyone

Two Cactus Wrens and a Black-throated Sparrow

Three Cactus Wrens

Powwow

Watching a dump truck climb the mountain road

There was lots of construction activity on the mountain this morning, large dump trucks hauling dirt up the narrow, winding road.  On our way back in from the outback we ran into JC, and then the three of us ran into Jimmy.  We all got together and discussed the many problems of the world.  Of course the superior intellect belonged to Becca, who's smart enough to reject out-of-paw the intellectual ramblings of three mentally-challenged humans.

Flying squirrel, sea turtle, seal?

Single-track across the high foothills

Hauling dirt up the mountain to fix a washed-out road?

Striations in the sky

Coming back down with an empty dumping bed

A Little Common Sense, Please

The dawn sky just before we headed out this morning

To the conscientious pet guardian who bagged his or her dog's poop in the pretty powder-blue waste-disposal bag:  if you're going to bag it take it with you.  If you're going to leave it behind don't bag it.  Dog feces will disintegrate and decompose out in the elements long before that plastic bag ever will.  You'll be glad to know I double-bagged the deposit, put it into my pack and carried it home.  By the way, I have a dog, too, so I have plenty of dog-do to dispose of already.

Similar sky with more light

The rolling desert

A large Torrey Yucca at the horizon line

Ms. Beckster

Tattered overcast

Looking at hikers on the mountain

The road ahead

Describe these colors

Somebody bagged poop and left it behind

Leaving a front loader to climb a steep lineman road

The truck that hauled the front loader . . .

came from NMSU's Facilities & Services

Nobody About

Looking around for other signs of life

There was only one car in the Sunset Parking lot when Becca and I set off on our trek this morning; and there was only one car (a different one) in the lot when we got back.  We saw neither of the car owners nor anybody else in the desert around the mountain.  Really got me to wondering where everybody was this morning.  It's pretty rare to see absolutely nobody during a farily-long hike.

Old, disused experimental tower

Straight shot to the lower desert

On the road around Tortugas

This is the best shade to be found?