Desert Flora, Fauna & Other Stuff

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...