We made another trip to the desert on Monday afternoon.
Although the goal was geocaching, I found some
unique and interesting things to photograph.
This was the first cache.
I don't do piles of boulders.
When this cache was first placed, the two most
upper arms were just bumps on the cactus.
The hiders thought it looked like Mickey Mouse.
Not so much anymore...
This little guy caught my eye on the way to find the
hidden container. He willingly posed so I could get
a couple of photos. He was about the length of an
ink pen, maybe 6 to 8 inches.
Cache #3
We had to park at the top the hill as a gate closed off
the road. I elected to stay with Little Red. A Hummer
with CA plates and 3 ATVs were also parked at the gate
along the road. Hubby hiked down in search of #3.
There were interesting rock formations near the gate.
I took the camera and was happy to take photos.
Last week we decided it would be handy to have two-way
radios for just such an occasion...when I stay back & Hubby
goes searching way out-of-sight. He took a radio and left the
other with me.
I took some photos and soon heard voices.
Appearing on the other side of the gate were two
men dressed in camo/hunting clothes, head to toe, wearing
ammo belts and carrying rifles.
Now I don't know much about guns other than long is rifle, short is
pistol. I had no idea if they were hunting rifles or assault weapons.
Hmmm. What to do? The geocaching meetings have not covered
this topic.
I nodded and said hi as I climbed back into Little Red. They also
nodded and said hi. Okay. I thought to myself, you probably don't say hello
to someone you plan to hurt. I took out my book and pretended to read.
They hung around the Hummer, rested their weapons against a large rock,
smoked a couple cigarettes, and finally took out a cooler and ate.
I began to feel somewhat safer, but you never know.
Then an old white pickup drove up the road and stopped at the gate.
An older gentleman climbed out and attempted to unlock the gate by
inserting a key into bottom of the padlock. It took him awhile, but
finally the key fit and he proceeded to open the gate and the old truck
drove through. Then the truck stopped and the driver got out. He also
was an older gentleman; a cowboy wearing a hat, scuffed boots, jeans and
a long sleeved plaid shirt. He ambled over to the two camo dressed guys.
I have not mentioned the ethnicity of the camo wearing men. They were
not Caucasian. Maybe Mexican, maybe Middle Eastern.
That does not really matter, but it did add to my unease.
The pickup passenger locked the gate. He also shuffled over to the two men.
The cowboys had a conversation with them,
chuckled a bit, and then the cowboys climbed back into the pickup
and drove on down the road. I was feeling a little better.
About that time, Hubby called on the two-way to say he was on his way
out. I told him about the two camo dressed guys, but I couldn't hear his answer.
He asked if the white truck came through and I said, "Yes."
When Curt finally climbed over the fence, he also walked over to the
camo men and had a conversation. Hmmmm.
He climbed into the jeep and said, " They are hunting javelinas. The one
guy has been to Pierre, SD to hunt. His in-laws live there. I talked to them
on the way down. The pickup that came through? They are the ranchers
who were working below the hill." OK. I am a paranoid idiot!
This is what Hubby saw and found at the bottom of the hill.
Another boulder pile
See the length of that road? The bump at the top on the right
is the rock pile in the previous photo.
And hidden in the rock wall crevice
A metal container that had not been logged for a year.
Worth the walk in Hubby's opinion.
This interesting saguaro was one of my photos
while waiting at the top of the hill.
Our next stop was at this interesting hole in the rock wall.
The area had cholla, stag horn, prickly pear, and saguaro
cactus. Also some bushes I cannot name.
This low to the ground, dark green mossy plant caught my eye.
This was the only place I saw the plant.
And this one caught my eye.
I am sure I have seen it named bearded old man
or something like that. The neighbor has one in their
front yard.
I do know it belongs to the fish hook pincushion
group of cacti. I am not sure why this one lost it's hat.
There was one cache before we reached the next one.
I had heard about this rock formation about five years ago.
I thought it might be a hike destination, but none of
the hikers had been there recently. Since there was a
geocache in the area, it was on our list on Monday.
The road we drove on was one of the better ones that day,
other than the paved highway. As we drove over a rise and
came down the hill, there it was
Elephant Butte
I was allowed one photo before we found the geocache,
which I found by the way. It had not been signed for almost
two years. Woot Woot for us!
Can you see the elephant head to the right?
The eye. The trunk folded under. Amazing.
This is a bit fuzzy, what a rock!
We were sort of protected from the north so
decided to set up the chairs and have lunch near
Elephant Butte.
As we were driving back towards town, in a round about way,
movement in the shrubs off to my right caught my eye.
I asked Hubby to stop and I fumbled to get my camera out
of the bag.
Three deer were moving along the hillside.
They were so well camouflaged, I would not have seen them
if they had not run up the hill. It was the flash of movement
that I saw. What a treat to see deer! I have not seen any this far
south in AZ.
Seeing the deer and finding the right road, after driving through
an old silver mining area, was the end of our excitement for the day.
NOT an average geocaching day...
